By Fiona Harvey Environment editor
Developing countries are calling on the rich world to defy the US president, Donald Trump, and bridge the global chasm over climate action, before the goal of limiting global temperatures to safe levels is irretrievably lost.
Diplomats from the developing world are rallying to support Brazil, which will host a crucial climate summit in November, after last year’s talks in Azerbaijan ended in disappointment and acrimony.
Ali Mohamed, the chair of the African group of negotiators and Kenya’s special envoy for climate change, pointed to record temperatures last year and continuing extreme weather. “Africa, responsible for less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, remains disproportionately affected by the intensifying impacts of climate change,” he said. “It is unacceptable that this devastation is caused by the pollution of just a few countries in the world, specifically the G20, and they must take responsibility for their actions.”
As well as needing rich countries to cut their emissions, vulnerable nations need financial help, as they struggle to cope with the devastation they are already seeing. “Adaptation is the priority for us, not a priority,” said Evans Njewa, chair of the least developed countries group. “We are prioritising adaptation, for our key sources of livelihood, and our economies. [Adaptation is essential to our] agriculture, water, the management of natural resources, food security and nutrition.”
All countries are supposed to come up with stringent national plans on cutting emissions at Cop30 in Brazil this year. Photograph: Michel Euler/APe
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement came after a fraught and unsatisfactory ending to the Cop29 summit in Baku in November, at which poor countries were promised $1.3tn a year in climate finance by 2035, but of that sum only $300bn is to come chiefly from developed countries. The rest would be made up in hoped-for private sector finance and from potential levies, such as taxes on shipping and frequent flyers, which have yet to be agreed.
For many in the developing world, this is not good enough. If they are to play a role in curbing carbon – and most of the future growth in emissions is projected to come from the developing world – they are demanding a better financial settlement.
“The failure of Cop29 to secure sufficient financing for developing countries – those most affected by climate impacts – represents a grave setback,” said Harjeet Singh, a climate activist and the founding director of the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation. “Without this support, their recovery efforts and transitions to renewable energy are severely hindered, jeopardising global emission reduction goals and exacerbating the climate crisis.”
Activists attend a protest at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Photograph: COP29 Azerbaijan/EPA
At Cop30 in Belém, Brazil, all countries are supposed to come up with stringent national plans on cutting emissions, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), that are in line with the goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above preindustrial levels.
Current NDCs, agreed at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, are insufficient to hold temperatures within 1.5C of preindustrial levels. Last year was the first to be consistently above 1.5C, and if that trend continues in the longer term the crucial limit will be judged to have been irretrievably breached. The new NDCs will govern emissions for the next decade, so Cop30 represents one of the last chances to put the world on track to avoid irreparable climate breakdown.
Camilla More, a climate diplomacy researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development thinktank, said: “The world can’t afford to delay any further. That’s why this round of climate targets is critical in changing the course of global efforts to combat climate change.”
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has boosted the prospects for Cop30 with two widely welcomed appointments. André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, a veteran climate diplomat, will take on the role of Cop president, and Ana Toni, the government’s climate change secretary, will be executive director of the summit.
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, (centre) poses with workers during a visit the venue that will host Cop30 in Belém, Brazil. Photograph: Tarso Sarraf/AFP/Getty Images
The two will face a daunting task: Cop29 ended in fierce criticism of the developed world from poor countries, led by India, which denounced the outcome as “abysmally poor”.
Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator for the Azerbaijani hosts, told the Guardian that his experience of Cop29 made him optimistic for Cop30, as countries should have more common ground in discussions of how to reduce emissions than they had in settling who should pay for it. “Finance [the subject of Cop29] was the most divisive issue,” he said. “If we could manage to get agreement on finance, I am hopeful that we should be able to agree on NDCs.”