NGO: Climate finance only small part of what has been looted by Global North

Global North countries need to not only decarbonize by 2030 but also provide 1 trillion for financing just to stop the "free-riding" on climate crisis mitigation efforts, Asad Rehman, representative of the British NGO War on Want, said at a COP29 press conference of international NGOs belonging to the Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) network, Report informs.

"That's why when civil society calls for 5 trillion, we're saying it doesn't even touch a fraction of what has been plundered and what is owed to the Global South. The US, UK, European Union, Japan, and Australia need to double or even triple their NDCs," he stated.

He noted that if rich and developed countries want to show leadership in the climate agenda, it should be leadership in quantity, numbers, quality, and public financing.

"The super-rich, who are responsible for half of the emissions growth since 1990 and are projected to be responsible for 16% of all global emissions by 2030, those who have captured 2/3 of global wealth, 43 trillion just in the last two years - support a wealth tax for them and redirect this money to climate financing," Rehman urged.

In turn, Oil Change International representative Collin Rees stated that besides the lack of financing from the US in particular and the Global North in general, this conference also shows a lack of progress on mitigation and fossil fuel phase-out.

"This transition must be led by the Global North, both due to greater capability and because, as I'll explain, they are a huge part of the problem, perhaps the main part. In my country, we're not seeing progress. In the US, Joe Biden continues to issue permits for fossil fuel expansion, refuses to take action against the oil and gas industry, despite some subsidies for renewables and important steps forward, but doesn't address the root cause of the climate crisis - fossil fuels," he noted.

"This trend continues here at COP, where we see these same Global North countries misleading others, saying they want more mitigation. This problem needs to start being addressed at home. It's massive hypocrisy from the Global North and especially the US to talk about lack of action on fossil fuel phase-out when we are the main perpetrators of this problem," he said.

According to him, the US alone is responsible for a third of planned oil and gas expansion globally over the next 25 years, according to Oil Change International's "Planet Wreckers" report from last year.

"I think the key to understanding many problems here at COP is how deeply countries like the US, as well as Canada, Australia are true petrostates in the sense of that word often used to describe other states," he noted, adding that developments show the Global North is being hypocritical and planning to phase out fossil fuels.