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Nazrin Abdul

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UN Chief urges financial commitments to address climate adaptation and loss & damage, Azernews reports.

In his address at COP29, UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the critical need for climate finance to support developing countries facing the brunt of the climate crisis. He pointed out that the gap in adaptation finance could reach up to $359 billion annually by 2030, leaving the most vulnerable populations at risk.

Guterres urged developed nations to meet their financial promises and accelerate support for adaptation efforts, with a call for developed countries to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion per year by 2025. He also stressed the importance of making climate finance more accessible and transparent, ensuring that developing nations receive the support they need to tackle both climate adaptation and loss and damage.

"These missing dollars are not abstractions on a balance sheet," Guterres said. "They are lives taken, harvests lost, and development denied." He also called for a surge in pledges to the new Loss and Damage Fund, with commitments turning into cash to support vulnerable communities.

Guterres urged leaders to go beyond promises and focus on concrete actions to unlock the necessary resources, including innovative funding mechanisms like levies on shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction. "Polluters must pay," he insisted.

As COP29 moves forward, Guterres reiterated the need for a new finance goal that can support the scale of action required to meet climate challenges, underscoring that climate finance is not charity, but an essential investment in the future.