Heads of state want $100 billion at Paris meeting on Thursday and Friday

Thirteen leaders of countries and trade blocs said this Wednesday (21), in an article, that they intend to raise US$ 100 billion (R$ 479 billion) in climate finance resources later this year to help the most needy countries to carry out a transition environmentally friendly without affecting your savings.

The manifesto is part of the discussions that will take place during the New Global Financing Pact summit, to be held in Paris this Thursday (22) and Friday (23) with the presence of heads of state from several nations, including Brazil. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, will participate in the meeting promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The article, published in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, portrays that the leaders who signed the manifesto are “united in the determination to establish a new global consensus” to “recover the development gains lost in recent years and to accelerate progress towards the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), including just transitions”, in relation to the goals established with the United Nations until 2030.

However, the leaders claim that the targets have made little progress and that an estimated 120 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty in the last three years.

“We want a system that better responds to development needs and vulnerabilities, now aggravated by climate risks, which could further weaken countries’ ability to eliminate poverty and achieve inclusive economic growth,” they say in the article, highlighting successive climate catastrophes. that are taking place in the world.

According to the leaders, the transition to a “net zero emissions” world and the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change represent “an opportunity for this generation to unlock a new era of sustainable global economic growth”. “We believe that just ecological transitions that leave no one behind can be a powerful force to alleviate poverty and support inclusive and sustainable development,” they say.

“Our strategy is clear: commitments on development and climate must be met. Grants and loans at preferential rates (often referred to as “soft money”) must be a priority in the fight against poverty; and to strengthen health, education and food security; and to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss”, they write.

Money for developing countries

Leaders further state that middle-income countries need access to long-term loans to promote sustainable investment in economic, social and physical resilience, with the need to “boost all sources of finance, including public assistance to the development, national resources and private investment”.

This should occur, according to the leaders, through the strengthening of multilateral development banks, with the increase of financing capacity and the mobilization of private capital. And also with an expansion of the sustainable and inclusive investment agenda in emerging and developing economies.

“Overall, our system has to reduce the cost of capital for sustainable development, including through the ecological transition in emerging and developing economies”, they state in the document.

Finally, the leaders affirm that they will continue to insist on these goals in the next G20 meetings in India and Brazil and in the COP28 in the United Arab Emirates.

The article is signed, among other leaders, by President Lula; by German prime ministers, Olaf Scholz; Japanese, Fumio Kishida; Briton, Rishi Sunak; by the President of the United States, Joe Biden; and by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.