Trillions Of Dollars Needed To Reverse Climate Change, but who the Heck will pay?

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With the COP29 climate confab on the horizon in November, focus is turning to the dollars needed to halt or reverse global warming, a matter looming on the agenda. But with the problem being complex and huge, fights are sure to break out about what needs to be spent and, probably more significant, which countries are going to pay for it. The most recent figure was put at trillions of dollars, but one of the leaders of the COP29 summit will settle for $100 billion a year.

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Rich Countries Fail To Pay Poor Ones For Climate Crisis

The most recent figure was put at trillions of dollars, but one of the leaders of the COP29 summit will settle for $100 billion a year, Reuters reports, adding that “Negotiators will meet in Baku next month to agree on a new financing goal to replace wealthy nations’ current commitment to provide $100 billion each year in climate finance to developing countries.”

Much of that money must come from Europe, the U.S., and China and India, the last three of which are the largest polluters in the world. But it’s hard to predict — especially in light of next month’s presidential election — whether the U.S. would provide funding of what could be $15 billion or $20 billion a year, especially because the COP29 leaders of COP29 don’t have much leverage.

COP29 Goals
About 100 world leaders will attend COP29, which can set policy and provide observations and information. Beyond that, it has very few teeth.

“We have done well to narrow down options, and the possible shapes of landing zones are coming into view,” said COP29 President-Designate Mukhtar Babayev. “But we can clearly see the divides that the Parties still need to bridge.”

One major hurdle is that rich nations must provide the poor ones with money to reach their goals. If this comes in the form of debt, the repayment risk is high, making it unattractive. And the chance of outright gifts remains low.