Minister Barbara Creecy: Transforming climate finance during

Despite the provisions in the convention and Paris Agreement that make the level of ambition by developed countries contingent on the support provided by developed countries, we continue to witness a decline in the delivery of public climate finance in real terms, and particularly in the operating entities of the financial mechanisms of the convention. 

CoP28 is a pivotal moment in our joint commitment to course-correct the provision of finance and ensure that the convention and its Paris Agreement’s finance pathway is on track, in particular in the outcomes of the global stocktake and the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF).

Developing countries need access to scaled-up levels of new and additional and predictable grant and concessional finance which undoubtedly can be deployed effectively to create enabling environments for the scale of investment required – beginning to buy down risks and create new asset classes for clean investments that would allow for greater mobilisation and leveraging of public and private finance and hence access the required trillions. 

Notwithstanding the current debt crisis which most developing countries find themselves in, we are being presented with more of the same debt instruments to support our climate mitigation, adaptation and broader development efforts. This is only contributing to exacerbating the debt crisis and reducing fiscal space. Developing countries need a new suite of innovative financing instruments which truly address the challenges we face.

We need to change the course of discussion on the new collective mobilisation goal, to align with the 2030 SDGs and the actual challenges which developing countries face, and not the challenges which are somehow imagined in the north, in decarbonising and building resilience.

We must consider ALL the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement, including 2.1(c) in our GST reflections, in the full context of the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement. As with the rest of the Paris Agreement, operationalising article 2.1.c must contribute to mobilising increased support for pursuing just transition pathways. Article 2.1(c) must thus be operationalised in a manner that recognises the respective national capabilities and national circumstances to allow developing countries to maintain the pathway towards low emission and climate resilient development while maintaining economic and social development.

The CMA must avoid approaches that impose abrupt and ill-considered disinvestment from fossil fuels sectors on African countries, as this will, in addition to the impacts of climate change, threaten Africa’s development due to the unintended impact on jobs, the economy, energy, food security, and the ability to mobilise finance. Such a transition is not a just transition. 

I thank you.