COP30 presidency unveils plan to scale climate finance to USD 1.3 trillion by 2035

New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) The COP30 presidency on Wednesday released the 'Baku to Belem Roadmap to 1.3 Trillion', a global plan to raise and channel at least USD 1.3 trillion every year by 2035 to help developing countries deal with the growing impacts of climate change and shift to cleaner economies.

The report says this level of funding is now "a necessity, not an option" and aims to turn finance promises into real action to help poor and climate-vulnerable nations access money for renewable energy, adaptation and rebuilding after climate disasters.

The roadmap builds on the agreement reached last year at COP29 in Baku, where countries had called on "all actors", including governments, banks and businesses, to work together to mobilise USD 1.3 trillion annually by 2035 under the new global climate finance goal.

The document does not set new rules or create new funds. Instead, it acts as a guide to align existing institutions such as multilateral development banks, climate funds and private investors to direct much larger and cheaper flows of money to developing countries.

The report identifies where this finance could come from -- a mix of government-backed concessional funds, private investments, South–South cooperation, carbon markets and new sources such as special drawing rights and voluntary levies.

Early estimates suggest contributions of about USD 80 billion from bilateral concessional finance, USD 300 billion from multilateral banks and climate funds, USD 40 billion from South–South flows, USD 650 billion in private cross-border finance and around USD 230 billion from new low-cost sources.

To make finance more accessible and affordable, the report says multilateral climate funds should triple their annual disbursements by 2030 compared to 2022, while multilateral development banks should lend more, at lower interest rates, and for longer periods, including in local currencies.

It also calls for tools that directly bring down borrowing costs, such as guarantees that share risks with lenders, protection against currency losses and mechanisms that help banks free up capital to provide fresh loans.

The report links worsening climate impacts to a deepening debt crisis. It says developing countries paid USD 921 billion in interest in 2024, with 61 countries now spending 10 per cent or more of their government revenues on interest, more than on health or education.

It highlights debt swaps and climate-resilient debt clauses as practical tools already being used and urges greater cooperation among creditors, the IMF and development banks to make such instruments standard practice.

According to the report, external climate finance to developing countries was roughly USD 196 billion in 2023, a fraction of what is needed. About 78 per cent of that came from public sources and 64 per cent went to emission-reduction projects, leaving support for adaptation and loss and damage seriously underfunded.

For India and the wider Global South, the roadmap reflects long-standing demands -- putting affordable public finance at the centre, lowering borrowing costs, expanding grants and concessional loans for adaptation and loss and damage and simplifying access.

The document carries forward the decision taken in Baku to triple the outflows from UN climate funds by 2030 and to address barriers such as high interest rates and complex procedures.

UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell said the roadmap marked a new phase in global climate cooperation.

"The Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3 Trillion is a plan for action, building on COP29's finance milestone agreement, and carrying momentum into COP30. At its core, the Roadmap is about turning commitments into practical, inclusive climate finance action that’s effective in delivering real-world outcomes that protect lives and strengthen economies," he said.

"For the first time, more than 200 governments, banks, businesses, and communities have joined forces to outline workable solutions for mobilizing climate finance," Stiell said.

The Roadmap shows how, by working together, we can scale up climate finance towards USD 1.3 trillion a year by 2035, helping developing countries meet their climate goals, he said.

According to the report, developing countries will need about USD 3.2 trillion every year by 2035 for climate and nature-related investment — including USD 2.05 trillion for clean energy, USD 750 billion for adaptation and loss and damage, USD 350 billion for nature and sustainable agriculture and USD 50 billion for just transition measures.

The plan is built around five key fronts: replenishing grants and concessional finance, rebalancing fiscal space and debt, rechannelling private finance at lower cost, revamping capacity and coordination, and reshaping systems so that capital moves more fairly and efficiently.

Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Senior Fellow, Council on Energy, Environment & Water (CEEW), said the roadmap pushes the right buttons.

"It highlights the importance of equity and fairness and attempts to provide a coherent action framework to scale up finance in the short to medium term... It is imperative that ambition is not just about mitigation actions, it should also be about delivery of finance," he said. PTI GVS GVS KSS KSS