Egypt: Climate Finance Numbers Don’t Add Up

Arthur Wyns
Posted by Arthur Wyns September 6, 2018

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Top Line: Developing countries led by Egypt are trying to get further clarity on how developed countries will reach their goal to provide $100 billion of climate finance by 2020. The current numbers, Egypt argues, fall short and don’t add up.
Background: As the Bangkok negotiations continue, climate finance is front and center of discussions. In discussions on Article 9.3 of the Paris Agreement, the priority of developed countries to provide a floor of USD 100 billion per year from 2020 onward. This was a key part of Paris, and one of the main reasons developing countries are still negotiating.
What is the issue: Egypt led the discussion by developed countries on how the progress since Paris to reach the $100 billion goal had been “blassé” and “insufficient” thus far.

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“An absolute priority for the developing world to mitigate and adapt to climate change, the delivery of climate finance should be front and center of these negotiations,” an Egyptian delegate told Climate Tracker afterwards.
Context: Egypt gave the example of the incomplete replenishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC. From the USD 10.2 billion that was promised by developing countries to the GCF, actually only USD 8.2 billion has been payed.
The reason: a USD 1 billion gap left by the U.S. and the devaluation of the British pound since Brexit was announced.
The Other Side: Donor countries like Australia, Japan and the US responded quickly arguing that we are ‘on track’. But in doing so, they also highlighted that they didn’t feel obligated to give firther details on their “specific process” to meet the $100 billion goal.
Where are we now: According to projections by the OECD, current financial pledges add up to USD 66 billion, leaving a USD 34 billion gap to be filled by private investment before 2020. An update by the OECD on the financial state of affairs is expected before COP24.

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What Next: “We need to make progress in Bangkok. Right now developed countries are blocking any advancement on the issue,” an Egyptian delegate told Climate Tracker.
“There is mentioning of postponing the financial deadline. We do not want to go to COP24 and say we will wait till 2025 to set the goal.”

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