As rich countries fail to deliver on their promises, poor countries risk losing an estimated $75 billion in previously pledged climate financing. This is what Oxfam Novib says in an analysis published on the first day of UN Climate Week.
At the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009, rich countries pledged to raise $100 billion annually between 2020 and 2025 to help poor and vulnerable nations cope with the effects of climate change. Many developing countries feel they are disproportionately affected by the effects of global warming. They blame the rich countries for this.
But $100 billion will not always be reached in the coming years. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Friday released figures showing that financial aid from rich countries in 2019 was just $80 billion. Since aid will almost always fall below $100 billion in the coming years, by 2025, between $68 and $75 billion will have been paid less than promised.
According to Oxfam Novib, this is concerning. Because 2020 was the warmest year ever recorded worldwide. As many as 98.4 million people were affected by floods, storms, and other climate-related disasters that year. It resulted in economic losses of at least $171 billion.
The organization warns that the problem of climate change is not being addressed with the right urgency. In 2020, for example, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan spent more than $14 trillion on financial recovery packages during the coronavirus pandemic. This is 143 times more than what is required to achieve climate finance targets.
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