Activists rally for trillions in public climate finance

Climate Change Activists at the COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan have rallied with powerful calls for the Global North countries to agree to a strong climate finance goal of trillions a year in public funds to address the escalating climate crisis.

The call comes after rich polluting countries were accused of pushing weak language in new climate finance negotiations at the ongoing COP29 to avoid providing real grant-based finance.

Holding a 10-meter long invoice and banners on Finance Day, during the unveiling of the Giant Climate Invoice Action, the activists from various organizations chanted ‘Polluters!, pay up, and trillions, not billions.’

The activists said there can be no more delays in providing climate finance for vulnerable communities that continue to pay the price of a climate crisis caused by rich countries’ emissions.

Speaking during the unveiling of the giant itemized climate invoice, Teresa Anderson, the Global Lead on Climate Justice at ActionAid International said Global North owes Global South trillions in climate finance, and that the time to pay is now.

“Time for excuses is up. Developed countries simply need to own up for the harm they have caused. It is absurd that people in the Global South who have done little to cause the crisis have been forced to bear the costs of climate destruction unleashed by richer countries,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the giant invoice displayed shows the costs of loss and damage, adaptation, and mitigation already being borne by developing countries.

“If developed countries want to avert runaway climate breakdown, they need to repay the debt owed to Global South,” she said.

Speaking after the action, other climate activists said frontline countries were being pushed to the brink of collapse due to rich, polluting countries’ continued inaction and refusal to provide grant-based public climate finance.

“In my country, women and young girls are increasingly forced to walk long distances in search of water, putting them at risk of attacks by wildlife and abuse at water wells,” Sylvia Kijangwa, a Youth Activist from Tanzania said.

“This Finance Day, we demand justice for these women who come from countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis. Our children are suffering from malnutrition due to the food crisis as empty promises become the norm. COP29 is the right time to provide finance for the costs of climate impacts that we are still paying,” Kijangwa said.

Nura Mohamed, ActionAid Somaliland Program Manager said women and girls from Somaliland cannot wait any longer as major polluters continue to evade accountability for the climate debts owed to communities devastated by climate change.

“For women and girls, the impacts are severe; droughts endanger livelihoods, and the resulting economic hardships fuel surges in gender-based violence. The delay is over. With climate shocks threatening our very survival, we are now demanding climate finance in the trillions, not the billions,” Mohamed said.