3 October 2024, Nadi Fiji - Despite Pacific communities being amongst the most vulnerable in the world to the impacts of climate change, Pacific countries are not accessing sufficient climate finance to address their climate change needs and priorities.
This unfair reality is not lost on Pacific Climate Change negotiators and officials gathering in Fiji to consolidate the Pacific’s thematic priorities on the road to the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Azerbaijan, which has been tagged as a “finance COP.”
A key item on the agenda is what is known as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance, a new global climate finance goal that the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) shall set from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, prior to 2025.
To understand the NCQG, you have to take a trip back to 2009 when developed countries agreed that by 2020, they would collectively mobilise $100 billion per year to support developing countries' climate action. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this goal was met for the first time in 2022, two years after the initial deadline.
When countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, they decided to set a "new collective quantified goal on climate finance" (NCQG) to replace the existing goal of $100 billion per year.
The NCQG is meant to be adopted this year at COP29 in Azerbaijan. And this for Pacific countries preparing for Baku is critical to their work to safeguard their communities from the devastating impacts of rising sea levels, extreme weather events threatening livelihoods, food security, and the integrity of the Pacific ecosystem.
Mr Wayne King, from the Cook Islands and lead Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) Negotiator on Climate Finance, said NCQG is one of the biggest issues for Pacific countries in Azerbaijan.
“In Baku in November, we’re going to try and come into an agreement on this New Collective Quantified Goal and so we are hopeful that with all the effort going into it, with the COP Presidency very supportive, we might be able to get there. When and how, those are the unknowns,” he said.
On the second day of the pre-COP29 meeting of officials in Nadi, Mr King provided an in-depth update of NCQG, and engaged with Pacific negotiators on potential strategies and plans looking to COP29.
“It’s very important for Pacific countries to have a clear understanding of this funding goal that we are aiming for, it means we’ll be able to access that funding to support our needs across the board in countries, but also in our climate financing aspirations,” he said.
“The key thing for us is that we are able to access the Fund with easy and workable modalities, to ensure there are easy channels for our countries to be able to use this fund for our needs.
“Can we access this funding without having to go through complicated procedures as we have seen with other funds? We’ve also got to ensure that the fund covers issues around reporting, and that it is linked to keeping 1.5 alive. Even though the 1.5 goal is not within the actual NCQG, it is very well closely connected so one has an impact on the other and vice versa.”
During the Pacific preCOP29 preparation meeting, Pacific countries collectively expressed the desire for the NCQG to be ambitious and deliverable financial commitment. It should include clear rules defining who will contribute, for what purpose, over what timeframe and how progress will be monitored.
The countries also made it clear that the Pacific SIDS special circumstances should be recognised, and that NCQG’s Climate Finance must be grants-based, new and additional.
But the road ahead is not easy given an array of complex topics keeping climate change negotiators on their toes.
“For our negotiators from across the Pacific, we’ve got a very challenging task ahead,” said Mr King.
“There are a lot of different views, we only have one COP to do all this, there is also a lot of pessimism around getting everything agreed to but I think we have a very good shot and getting our views across and maintaining our positions.
“Having said that, it will come to trade-offs. What I mean by that is that what could we give up in terms of this funding goal, to gain more access, more money? What is it are we going to trade-off to get some of the outcomes we want?”
Adopting a strong NCQG at COP29 will set the foundation to rebuild and strengthen trust in the international climate finance system. And it will promote solidarity between developed and developing countries at a critical moment for climate action.
The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place from 11-22 November 2024 in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
The Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) COP29 Preparatory Meetings from 30 September – 3 October 2024 at Crowne Plaza Fiji, is funded by the Government of Australia and facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment (SPREP). The meeting includes the Pacific Island Countries Climate Change Ministerial Talanoa with Australia and New Zealand.
The meetings will focus on the Pacific’s priority thematic areas for climate change negotiations and will allow for discussion on strategic directions and agreed regional positions ahead of COP29.