Rich nations will be under pressure at this month's UN COP29 conference to substantially increase the amount of money they give to poorer countries for climate action. But there is deep disagreement over how much is needed, who should pay and what should be covered, ensuring that "climate finance" will top the agenda at COP29 in Baku. It is the buzzword in this year's negotiations, which run from November 11 to 22, but there is not one agreed definition of climate finance.
In general terms, it is money spent in a manner "consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development", as per phrasing used in the Paris Agreement. That includes government or private money for clean energy like solar and wind, technology like electric vehicles, or adaptation measures like dykes to hold back rising seas. But could a subsidy for a new water-efficient hotel, for example, be counted? It is not something the COP summits have addressed directly.
At the annual UN negotiations, climate finance has come to refer to the difficulties the developing world faces getting the money it needs to prepare for global warming. Under a 1992 UN accord, a handful of rich countries most responsible for global warming were obligated to provide finance. In 2009, the United States, the European Union, Japan, Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia agreed to pay $100 billion per year by 2020.
They only achieved this for the first time in 202.