A financial package totaling US$300 billion per year for the next decade has been allocated to developing countries, including Ghana, to help implement climate actions and strengthen resilience against the effects of climate change.
While this package is three times larger than the previous pledge of US$100 billion, it falls short of the US$1.3 trillion that developing countries had initially requested.
COP29 President Mukhtar Babayev announced the agreement at the closing plenary on Sunday, 24th November 2024, in Baku, stating that the deal resulted from months of intricate, complex, and often controversial negotiations.
The central theme of COP29 focused on climate finance, with nearly 200 countries gathering in Baku, Azerbaijan, to finalize a landmark agreement.
Formally named the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG), the agreement was reached after two weeks of intense negotiations and years of preparatory work, with all nations needing to unanimously approve every detail.
Babayev emphasized that this agreement, along with other key decisions, represents a crucial step toward creating a path that will help reduce global temperatures to 1.5 degrees.
“When the world came to Baku, people doubted that Azerbaijan could deliver. They doubted that everyone could agree. They were wrong on both counts. With this breakthrough, the Baku Finance Goal will turn billions into trillions over the next decade. We have secured a trebling of the core climate finance target for developing countries each year.”
“The Baku Finance Goal represents the best possible deal we could reach, and we have pushed the donor countries as far as possible…The science shows that the challenges will only grow. Our ability to work together will be tested. The Baku breakthrough will help us weather the coming storms.”
Mr Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change, described the new finance goal as an insurance policy for humanity amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“But like any insurance policy, it only works if premiums are paid in full and on time. Promises must be kept to protect billions of lives,” he said.
The deal, he noted, would keep the clean energy boom growing, helping all countries to share in its huge benefits – more jobs, stronger growth, cheaper and cleaner energy for all.
“So this is no time for victory laps; we need to set our sights and redouble our efforts on the road to Belém. Even so, we’ve shown the UN Paris Agreement is delivering, but governments still need to pick up the pace,” he said.
Dr. Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, a prominent member of the Africa Group of Negotiators, expressed that while developing countries were deeply disappointed, they ultimately accepted the outcome.
He explained that the G77, a coalition representing developing countries in the United Nations, had advocated for a financial package of US$500 billion, but the developed nations deemed it unfeasible.
The new financial package is expected to be sourced from government grants and the private sector, including banks and businesses, to help countries transition from fossil fuel-based energy to renewable sources.
COP29 also achieved an agreement on carbon markets, a milestone that several previous COPs had been unable to reach. These agreements will enable countries to accelerate the implementation of their climate plans and make faster progress toward reducing global emissions, as required by scientific guidelines.
In Baku, decisions were also made regarding the least developed countries (LDCs), including the creation of a support program to aid in the implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). Extensive discussions took place on the second five-year assessment of NAPs, with plans to continue these discussions in June 2025.