Deliver adequate finance to meet Global South goal: PM
PM said that countries in the Global South expect support from developed nations in dealing with the crisis
Calling on rich nations to take the lead in the battle against climate crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India expects the 28th UN Conference of Parties to effectively address issues of climate finance, even as he highlighted four critical action points to help the Global South transition to low-carbon economies.

Addressing a session on Transforming Climate Finance at the summit currently underway in Dubai, the PM said that countries in the Global South expect support from developed nations in dealing with the crisis.
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“They (countries in the Global South) do not have adequate resources to act on climate change. To meet the climate ambition of global south, climate finance and technology are indispensable,” PM Modi said. “Climate finance should be available, accessible and affordable.”
Elaborating on the four action points, Modi said, “First, COP28 must make progress on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (for the post-2025 period). Secondly, there should be no curbs on fund flow to Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund, they should be fully funded. Third, multilateral development banks should make affordable climate finance available. Fourth, developed nations should reduce their carbon footprint and become carbon neutral before 2050.”
COP28 aims to establish the groundwork for a fresh post-2025 global climate finance goal and finalise it at the summit to be held next year. This will New Collective Quantified Goal will succeed the $100 billion target set in 2009.
Rich nations pledged in 2009 to raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to assist developing countries in combating and adapting to the climate crisis. Despite extensions to 2025, these nations have not met this commitment.
The Green Climate Fund, which was proposed at the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen and began raising money in 2014, hasn’t come close to its goal of $100 billion annually.The Adaptation Fund is a UN-backed fund that provides grants and loans to help developing countries adjust to climate impacts.
The impacts of climate crisis on countries in the Global South are more severe, yet they have contributed least to the problem, the PM said.
“During India’s G20 Presidency, we had a resolution on this matter. We said that for climate finance we need trillions not billions. I think UAE’s Climate Finance Framework initiative will take us in that direction,” PM Modi added.
The PM’s comments came shortly after COP28 President Sultan Al-Jaber launched the UAE Declaration on a Global Climate Finance Framework to “finance a new climate economy”.
“We all know that climate finance is not available, accessible or affordable enough. This is impacting lives and livelihoods across the Global South. The Declaration is a framework for financing a new climate economy,” Al-Jaber said.
The Declaration will help bridge the trust gap between the Global North and Global South, and will build on the momentum created by existing initiatives such as the Bridgetown Initiative, the Accra-Marrakech Agenda, the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and the African Leaders Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change and Call to Action, Al-Jaber said.
As part of a number of wide-ranging initiatives, the UAE has established ALTÉRRA, the largest private climate vehicle, and announced a $30 billion commitment to the vehicle with the aim of mobilizing $250 billion of private-sector investment by 2030. ALTÉRRA will combine private and public capital to channel large-scale investment into climate solutions globally, including the Global South.
The UAE has also committed an additional $200 million of Special Drawing Rights to the IMF Resilience and Sustainability Trust to support climate resilience in developing countries. It follows a $4.5 billion commitment for clean energy projects in Africa earlier in the year.
