Africa Looks for Developed World to Settle its Climate Change Debt

African countries want a new system to track funding from wealthy nations that are failing to meet a $100bn annual target to help the developing world tackle climate change, Africa’s lead climate negotiator has said. The demand highlights tensions ahead of the COP26 climate summit between the world’s 20 largest economies, which are behind 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, and developing countries that are bearing the brunt of the effects of global warming. In 2009, developed countries agreed to raise $100bn per year by 2020 to help the developing world deal with the fallout from a warming planet. The latest available estimates from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show this funding hit $79.6bn in 2019, just two percent more than in 2018. The OECD data shows Asian countries on average received 43 percent of the climate finance in 2016-19, while Africa received 26 percent. Gahouma said a more detailed shared system was needed that would keep tabs on each country’s contribution and where it went on the ground. African countries face an extra challenge at the talks because administrative hurdles to entering the UK and to travelling during the coronavirus pandemic mean smaller than usual delegations can attend.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA