Failure of rich people to finance climate is ‘joke’, says UNDP – 24/02/2023 – Environment

The failure of developed countries to meet a decade-old commitment to pay $100 billion (R$517.8 billion) in annual climate finance to developing countries is a “joke”, said Achim Steiner, administrator of the United Nations Program Nations for Development (UNDP), this Friday (24).

Wealthy nations, which are most responsible for global warming, have yet to fulfill their 2009 pledge to provide $100 billion a year to help developing countries cope with the fallout from rising global temperatures.

“A joke. I say that in all honesty,” Steiner told Reuters during an interview on the sidelines of a G20 meeting at a resort outside the Indian city of Bengaluru.

“I think many countries should ask themselves whether this could be one of the most tragic mistakes in history, that 10 years after making such a pledge, the $100 billion commitment still hasn’t been fulfilled.”

Countries neighboring India in South Asia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, are seeking rescue from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to an economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.

Steiner said that G20 countries need to decide on debt restructuring and that discounts should be made as 52 developing countries are close to risk of default or financial stress.

“We need to look at some discounts, we need to look at some rescheduling and restructuring,” said Steiner.