Civil society groups have criticised Germany for scaling back its climate finance budget as the developing world makes increasingly urgent pleas for help in coping with climate change and limiting their greenhouse gas emissions.
On Friday, budget negotiations produced massive cuts to the money available to the development ministry, responsible for the bulk of an annual €6 billion in climate finance Berlin has pledged on the global stage.
Jan Kowalzig at charity Oxfam calls the move an “impending betrayal” of the country’s vow to help poorer countries meet the costs of climate action. Even in the most optimistic scenario, the total is unlikely to exceed €5.3 billion next year, before dropping further, he estimates.
As the COP30 conference in Brazil enters its second week, slashing the climate finance budget was a “fatal signal” to other countries, said Ute Sudmann, a finance specialist at Germanwatch, an NGO.
Last year’s climate edition of the UN jamboree had seen rich countries agree to triple the current pledge of $100 billion in annual support by 2035. This year, poorer countries are pushing for extra money to help pay for coping with a planet that is rapidly heating up.
“We need to see a global goal on adaptation … but a goal without finance is not enough,” said Jennifer Morgan, a veteran COP attendee who was Germany’s chief climate envoy when the deal was agreed in Baku last year.
The developing world is looking this year for rich countries to increase funding for climate adaptation specifically, with a 2021 pledge to double it having run its course. Now countries “are talking about maybe tripling that doubling goal by 2030 or 2035,” Morgan added.
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