The Promise To Mobilize $1.0tn More Is Vague

The major challenge for COP30 is to restore the trust between the Global North and the Global South. The trust deficit continues to widen in matters substantive to solving the issues, such as ambitious mitigation and scaling climate finance. However, I believe that COP30, under the progressive leadership of Lula De Silva of Brazil, a University Professor, can expect a better outcome.

- Prof. Dr. Mizan R Khan

The lone success, if any want to say, is operationalizing the Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Yet there is a lack of transparency in data sharing by developed countries. On the other hand, the amount of US$300 billion to be delivered by 2035 was inadequate relative to minimum needs. There were some lacunae in the adopted text: no share mentioned between adaptation and mitigation as well as no mention about a specific share between loans and grants. Moreover, it is a vague promise that the remaining US$1.0 trillion to be mobilized from all sources as the past experience does not provide a good lesson.

Prof. Dr. Mizan R Khan, Technical Lead, LDC Universities Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC), said this in an interview with Mollah Amzad Hossain, Editor of Energy & Power.

You attended the COP29 in Baku Azerbaijan. How do you evaluate the outcome of COP29?

Not a success other than operationalizing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Even there, the outcome particularly for the 6.2 part of the Article, the level of transparency in data sharing by developed countries was not at the level expected.

COP29 was tagged as financing COP. Developed countries pledged a fund of US$300 billion annually by 2035 responding to the least developed poor nations' demand for US$1.3 trillion. There is considerable doubt whether even this amount would be available. What are your observations?