Ministers Recycle Failed Initiatives On Climate Finance

Today, the COP30 climate summit’s Circle of Finance Ministers, led by Brazilian finance minister Fernando Haddad, released a draft report laying out measures to increase climate finance to developing countries, signaling priorities for upcoming negotiations ahead of UNFCCC climate negotiations in November.

In response, Bronwen Tucker, Public Finance Manager at Oil Change International, said: 

“The only green thing about the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministers report is how much it recycled failed initiatives. Finance ministers are once again dodging their responsibilities, asking corporations and banks to act, when it’s government policies that must lead the transition to a 100% renewable future.  

“Finance ministers must do their jobs and stop funding fossil fuels, while unlocking the necessary public funds for a just transition. Relying on private investors and carbon markets has been tried and failed over the last 20 years. The money to pay for a just transition is there. Rich countries need to show up at COP30 with real commitments to unlock it. Fair taxes, ending fossil fuel handouts, and cancelling unjust debts can free up trillions for a fair and fossil free future.”

In response, Rebecca Thissen, Global Advocacy Lead at CAN International, said:

“While we acknowledge the effort made to give more attention to the climate finance question, it is disappointing to see such a low level of ambition coming from Finance Ministries—especially given the breadth of tools and levers they have at their disposal. Rather than proposing a transformative vision for scaling up finance to $1.3 trillion by adopting a strategic, whole-of-economy approach to invest in and fund key sectors for a Just Transition, they put forward very low-key solutions that, in the end, do not move the needle very far. Their continued obsession with mobilising the private sector through blended finance instruments to close the actual finance gap—approaches that have consistently delivered far less than promised—only appears as a smoke screen. They should instead promote avenues to scale up public finance and reform the current financial architecture to effectively tackle the structural challenges faced by developing countries, such as unsustainable debt levels and the high cost of capital.

It is essential to recall that, in the particular context of this COP—facing multiple challenges both externally and internally—Parties cannot shy away from putting real solutions and real money on the table. Some of the priorities identified in the Circle of Finance Ministries report are welcome, such as the need to scale up concessional finance and strengthen regulatory approaches. However, we must move beyond fancy titles and propose solutions that will genuinely free up fiscal and policy space in developing countries.”

Notes to the editor

Oil Change International’s recent research shows:

• Rich countries can raise $6.6 trillion annually in public funding to pay for climate action at home and abroad. 
• Proposals that rely on attracting private finance to the energy transition in the Global South are not delivering. The blended finance facilities emphasized in today’s report have raised 4-7 times less private investment for the energy transition than promised.

ENDS