Paris Agreement at Risk: Developing Nations Demand Climate Finance

New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Paris Agreement is at risk if countries fail to deliver a meaningful new climate finance goal to help developing nations combat and adapt to climate change, the spokesperson for the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) has warned.

LMDC is a bloc of around 25 developing nations that advocates for shared positions in international climate negotiations. This group includes India, China, Pakistan, Argentina, Iran, and Egypt, and represents more than 50 per cent of the world's population.

In a virtual interview with PTI, Diego Pacheco, the spokesperson for LMDC and the lead negotiator for Bolivia, said developed countries are attempting to dilute their responsibility to provide climate finance by creating a complex New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) framework with multiple layers.

NCQG refers to the new, larger amount that developed nations must mobilize each year, starting in 2025, to support climate action in developing countries.

Countries are expected to finalize NCQG at this year's UN climate conference COP29 in Azerbaijan's Baku in November.

Pacheco said developing countries are implementing their national climate plans to achieve Paris Agreement goals or nationally determined contributions (NDCs) without "any support at all" from developed countries that have historically benefited from industrialization and contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions.

"Developing countries cannot move forward with more commitments without the necessary financial support. After 10 years since the approval of the Paris Agreement, it is time to discuss the key issue for the implementation of the pact.

"If we cannot succeed in achieving a meaningful NCQG, all the agreements made in Paris are at stake," he told PTI.

The LMDC spokesperson added the Global South has been calling for greater cooperation to tackle the climate crisis for a decade, "but it seems that developed countries don't really want to respond; they are just protecting their economies".