Is Asia’s climate funding hope fading over ‘unclear’ commitment to secure financing?

Climate funding for developing nations including those in Asia remains shrouded in uncertainty despite the recently concluded Cop29 summit in Baku, where triple the amount of aid at US$300 billion was promised to poorer nations struggling with the effects of global warming.

The agreement hatched with developing nations would provide the sum annually through 2035, boosting an earlier commitment of US$100 billion a year for vulnerable nations.

That includes a broader goal of providing US$1.3 trillion in climate finance by 2035, which includes funding from public and private sources – a sum observers say is needed to address climate change.

Experts argue that the summit outcome lacks details, making it challenging to secure financing for Southeast Asia and South Asia, regions bearing the brunt of climate change.

Dhruba Purkayastha, director at the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, said the US$300 billion figure needed to come from government aid or the equivalent of grants provided by developed nations.

Alternatively, the financing should be government-backed public funding to facilitate loans. “Otherwise it is not a way forward,” Purkayastha said, adding that it was imperative to define what constituted such climate finance.

However, the language around the summit text remained “very unclear” about the allocation of money with no clear commitment, he said, adding that there were also no loss and damage provisions to compensate nations that suffered from natural disasters triggered by climate change.