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Bonn talks on climate finance target end in deadlock on numbers
Negotiations have not progressed because rich countries have refused to discuss a dollar value for the new target that is expected to be agreed at COP29.
Countries failed to make progress on a post-2025 climate finance target in Bonn, with negotiators from developing and developed countries blaming each other in heated exchanges at mid-year UN talks.
As discussions wrapped up on Tuesday, country representatives from both sides expressed disappointment with the process that is expected to result in an agreement on a new collective quantified target (CQMT) at COP29 in Baku in November.
They will leave the German city with an informal 35-page “contribution document” filled with wildly divergent views and repeatedly described as “unbalanced” by negotiators during the final session of the talks.
“It’s time we started dealing with serious issues,” said a Barbadian negotiator, urging colleagues to speed up discussions before “more and more SIDS [small island developing states] and the least developed countries [least-developed countries] disappear from this meeting because we disappeared from this planet.”
Show us the money
For most developing countries, the sticking point is the lack of negotiations on the size of the new target – known as the “quantum” in technical parlance. Governments have already agreed that the new target should be set “starting from a floor of $100 billion per year” – the existing commitment – and should take into account “the needs and priorities of developing countries”.
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Arab and African groups landed their proposals for a new dollar figure on the table in Bonn – between $1.1 trillion and $1.3 trillion a year for the five years from 2025. Meanwhile, they accused rich states of not doing the same and refusing to talk about numbers.
“We have not heard anything from them about their vision for quantum,” Egypt’s negotiator said. “Every time there has been [one] excuse or another why we could not discuss the quantum issue,” reiterated the Saudi Arabian delegate.
Egyptian negotiator Mohamed Nasr (middle) speaking to other delegates in Bonn. Photo: IISD/ENB – Kiara Worth
China echoed the same sentiment, but went further in its tirade against some developed countries. “We have been dealing with [a] few insincere and selfish nations that have no intention of honoring international treaties,” said the country’s negotiator, referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“We have no intention of making their number look good or part of their responsibility, because we are doing everything we can to save the world,” he added, hinting at long-standing attempts by rich countries to expand the list of financial contributors to developing countries that are richer and more polluting.
‘A long way to go’
Developed countries accused their peers of consolidating their established positions rather than seeking areas of common interest.
Australia’s representative said the current document – which is not a negotiating text – shows “how much we disagree”. She added that there will be no agreement in Baku “if we engage in a game of crossing out each other’s texts”. […] or a tug of war.”
She expressed her government’s view that a numerical dollar target is “the star on top of the Christmas tree” and should only be decided once the target framework has been defined.
The UK negotiator noted that “we have a long way to go” as “we are not in a process that will help us reach a final text”.
A US delegate called for a “radical change” in the process. “I feel like most of what we’ve been doing is repeating views and not going into detail about what people mean,” he added.
There is no lack of public money to pay for a just energy transition
After comments from developed nations, Saudi Arabia’s negotiator spoke again for the Arab Group. “I have to defend the members of my group,” he said. “We are being lied to.”
It is now up to the co-chairs of the negotiations to prepare a new informal document setting out a way forward based on the divergent views. The new document will be sent to governments ahead of the next round of negotiations, which have not yet been scheduled.
“We encourage you to reach out to others using the time between sessions [between meetings] to discuss areas where you see fertile common ground,” co-chair Zaheer Fakir said in closing remarks. “So far, we have not seen concrete efforts to reach out to your partners.”
(Reporting by Matteo Civillini and Joe Lo; Editing by Megan Rowling)