ActionAid demands rich nations match climate finance with urgency of crisis

ActionAid has called on global north rich nations to pump funds into the fight against the effects of climate change.

Speaking during a press briefing on the opening day of COP29, ActionAid’s spokespeople said the funds are essential for adaptation, mitigation, loss, and damage to the effects.

Global Climate Justice Lead at ActionAid Teresa Anderson said COP29 is about the new climate finance goal to unlock climate action in the Global South.

“Without finance, talk about climate action will remain just that, talk. They say there is no such thing as a free lunch, well there is no such thing as a free climate target either. If we are serious about climate action, we have to pay for climate action,” Anderson said.

Anderson said sticking the Global South with an escalating climate bill is not only unfair but also a recipe for certain planetary breakdown.

“This is why climate-hit countries desperately need COP29 to agree a new climate finance goal that delivers real worth trillions of dollars in grants each year. And it needs to be worthy countries of the Global North, who have been polluting for a century or more, that finally pay up the real money for climate action,” she said.

She added; “So far wealthy countries have been evading their responsibilities. In 2022, between them, developed countries only provided $28-35 billion in grants for climate action in the Global South. For context, the world spent twice as much on ice cream that year at $71 billion. We can’t avert planetary meltdown by spending less on climate finance than we spend on ice cream.”

Mosammat Dulali, a community member from the Kalapara region in Southern Bangladesh said the world need to act now to address climate disasters, stressing that if things continue as they are, there will not be a community left to talk about.

“In my childhood, I didn’t witness disasters as severe as those in recent years, especially from 2007 to 2024. Just this year alone, we have experienced four cyclones. My community is overwhelmed by various problems like houses collapsing, lands submerging, and loss of livelihoods, along with the deaths of livestock, women, and children,” Dulali said.

“Tidal surges from cyclones and floods have increased the salinity of agricultural land reducing the ability of land to produce enough food for the community. In our region, we used to produce a good variety of winter crops, especially lentils, and watermelons and were self-sufficient, but now we can’t,” Dulali added.

ActionAid’s Country Program Manager for Somaliland Nura Ahmed Mohamed said in Somaliland, climate change is more than an environmental crisis.

Mohamed said; “It’s a humanitarian disaster with severe gendered impacts. Increasingly frequent droughts and flash floods threaten the lives and livelihoods of countless families, but the toll is particularly harsh on women and girls. Despite these challenges, women are often the first responders in their communities, taking on roles in caregiving, food production, and managing natural resources.”

“These extreme weather events disrupt agriculture, leading to food shortages, loss of income, and forced displacement. Families in crisis often resort to harmful coping mechanisms, such as child marriage to survive. This has caused child marriage rates and cases to surge, while girls are pulled out of school at alarming rates,” Mohamed said.

On her part, Michelle Higelin, Executive Director of ActionAid Australia said wealthy polluting countries must step up climate finance by committing to grant-based finance and not loans.

“Australia often talks about supporting our Pacific neighbors to respond to the climate crisis, now is the time to put that solidarity into action. The new climate finance goal is the most important agreement since the Paris Agreement and will decide the future of millions of women living on the frontlines of climate catastrophe across the Pacific and the world,” Higelin said.

“Minister Chris Bowen has a unique opportunity as co-chair of the negotiations, and he must not let this opportunity pass. As a wealthy, highly polluting country, Australia must ensure that the new climate finance goal delivers for women and their communities grappling with the devastating and daily impacts of the climate crisis,” she said.

“Pacific Island countries have contributed almost nothing to a crisis that is now threatening their very survival. If Australia wants to show it is a committed member of the Pacific family, it must put real money on the table and ensure delivery of an annual USD 1 trillion climate finance goal,” Higelin added.