Wealthy countries finally met their target of providing $100 billion in annual climate aid to poorer countries for the first time in 2022 – two years behind schedule, the OECD said on Wednesday.
The pledge to help developing nations cut emissions and adapt to climate change was first made at the Copenhagen summit in 2009.
Developed nations promised to raise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help low-income countries invest in clean energy and cope with the worsening impacts of climate change.
The goal proved to be a flashpoint in global negotiations, used as evidence of inaction and indifference on the part of rich nations.
Climate finance can come from governments in the form of bilateral aid, multinational development lenders like the World Bank, or the private sector.
While it was unsure the promise had been kept, numbers verified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development confirmed the $100 billion had been surpassed.
They provided just under $116 billion in 2022.
Most of tthat money went to climate action that limits the release of heat-trapped greenhouse gases, the OECD said, mainly in clean energy and transport improvements.
Eye on new deal
The OECD report comes as nations race to set a more ambitious goal by the Cop29 climate conference November.
The gas-rich hosts Azerbaijan have made the matter a priority and hope to agree an ambitious deal on climate finance.
The world's top 20 economies have contributed more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gases behind climate change.
Global climate finance of an estimated $9 trillion a year is needed by 2030, according to a report last year from the Climate Policy Initiative, to limit the rise in average global temperature in line with 1.5C.
The $100 billion target is nowhere near what experts say developing nations will need for renewable energy and adaptation measures like coastal defences against rising seas.
(with newswires)
