Rich nations must lead battle against climate change: IFAD

The United Nations has said that developing nations need up to $340 billion in funding per year by 2030 to combat adverse weather conditions. Rich nations so far have fallen short of their promises and have contributed only 10 percent of what they pledged.

Speaking about this, Jyotsana Puri, Associate Vice President of Strategy and Knowledge at International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said "adaptation" is the need of the hour as far as mitigation of the effects of climate change is concerned.

“The two key things that are coming through very clearly — credibility and justice ... with this crisis, it becomes really important for us to look at the poorest, the most marginalised, and to really ensure that these are just transitions. So even as we think about mitigation and adaptation, adaptation is clearly the call of the hour, the clarion call that has been made by developing countries especially,” Puri said.

Adaptation finance is aimed at helping communities reduce risks and harm from climate hazards. It pays for things like stronger housing, more drought-tolerant crops, social safety nets, or improved decision-making around climate-related risks.

Adaptation finance includes both finance from developed to developing countries, and also funds from private sources.

Puri believes that to pose a larger impact, a grant financing and a lot of sources of finance are required . Puri also noted that private and public sector will have to work together in a symbiotic way to de-risk the investments.

“We are still falling very short, as you said, as well. $340 billion is a very far cry, we are currently at $70 billion globally. I think what we do really require is for a lot of source of the finance to come and multiply that impact that we need to see on the ground, because it's really adapt or start today.”

“What we require is grant financing and what we require is concessional financing, because it means that those investments or those plans have to be de-risked and this is why the public and the private sector really need to work together in a symbiotic way so that we can de-risk it,” IFAD Associate Vice President added.

UN's annual climate summit, COP27, is currently underway in Egypt's resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, and climate finance has been the top focus of the summit with loss and damage being included in the agenda.

As many as 190 countries have come together at the COP27 Summit in Egypt, at a time when the world is seeing instability in the energy market, triggered by the Russia-Ukraine War.

For the first time in 28 years, funding for loss and damage caused by climate disasters is included on the agenda at the annual climate summit. India has been among the developing nations pushing for this over the last many years.

Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav made a pitch for a proper definition of climate finance and asked rich nations to step up and contribute their fair share.

Speaking at COP27, Bhupendra Yadav, Minister of Environment & Climate Change said, “Climate finance is still a mirage, and effective climate adaptation such as early warnings for all helps us collectively in our region toward reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring preparedness and swift and timely response to natural hazards.”

Wealthy nations promised to contribute $100 billion by 2020. 2 years on, they are far away from meeting this target. What’s worse, an analysis by Carbon Brief shows they are not even contributing a fair share equivalent to their emissions.

The United States should be contributing $39 billion which is equivalent to its carbon emission. But the report shows the US provided a mere $7.6 billion in 2020. This is less than one-fifth of the fair share the US should be contributing to climate financing.

Besides US, many rich nations are not paying their fair share for climate financing. Canada is contributing only 37 percent of its fair share. Australia is at 38 percent and the UK is paying 76 percent of its fair share in comparison to its emissions.

Meanwhile, a research report, released ahead of talks on climate change finance at the COP27 summit in Egypt, commissioned by the current and previous climate summit hosts, Egypt and Britain, explains that  funding is required to cut emissions, boost resilience, deal with damage from climate change and restore nature and land. It further articulates that Developing countries need to work with investors, rich countries and development banks to secure $1 trillion every year, in external financing for climate action by the end of the decade and to match that with their own funds.