Rich Nations Slammed for Reluctance to Provide Climate Finance

A huge slogan -- "We need US$100 billion annually to save our rainforests" -- on the wall of the Papua New Guinea pavilion has grabbed wide attention.

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At the ongoing 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) held in Sharm el-Sheikh, representatives from developing countries have blasted advanced economies for dragging their feet on climate finance.

Naz Baloch, member of Pakistan's National Assembly, said that the developed countries have been reluctant to fulfill their pledge of providing US$100 billion in climate finance as they do not "understand the significance of climate change and have their own priorities."

"What happened in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan," said Baloch, citing the slogan of the Pakistan pavilion for COP27. "No country is immune to climate change. We realize the pain because we've been through it, and we want the rest of the world to understand how tough it is. We should act before it's too late," Baloch said.

Kevin Conrad, director of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, said that developed countries "have a lot of excuses" to dodge providing the promised US$100 billion in climate finance.

"In 2022, they still haven't delivered. What we are trying to say is that US$100 billion are not enough only for protecting rainforests. We need more than that," Conrad said, adding that the amount of funds to protect rainforests is estimated at US$400 billion per year.

"Countries who are historically responsible have a moral obligation in duty to deliver US$100 billion. That has been promised," Fiji's Permanent Representative to the UN Satyendra Prasad said at Moana blue club pavilion co-organized by 14 South Pacific island countries.

Facing the double threats of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent natural disasters, island countries need climate finance that is "within reach and speedy," Prasad said, noting that "the system is delivering less than 10 percent of the climate finance that is needed." 

Without climate finance, "the progress towards the goal of climate change will suffer. So it's necessary for the international community to seek incentive mechanisms to promote climate finance," said Mazin al-Lamki, chief executive officer of Energy Development Oman.