Currently — October 18, 2023: Ahead COP28, wealthy nations not paying up

The weather, currently.

The UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, is about a month and a half away. However, after last year's conference — which emphasized Climate Finances — wealthy nations are still falling far behind on financial commitments.

The majority of these promises are already overdue. In 2009 wealthy nations promised to pay $100 billion per year in climate finance to the Global South by 2020.

Earlier this month the UN's main fund created to support these goals — the Green Climate Fund — announced that it had raised $9.3 billion, falling short of a $10 billion target. This comes nowhere near the $200-$250 billion the UN estimates developing nations will actually need each year by 2030.

The US and China, the globe's two largest polluters, failed to contribute to the fund at all.

At least years COP, held in Egypt, countries also agreed to create a “Loss and Damage Fund.” A fund where wealthy nations would contribute funds to assist developing nations as they recover from inevitable climate disasters, i.e. loss and damages.

Almost a year later, there is no clear path forward for the creation or execution of this fund.

— Abbie Veitch

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