By Phapano Phasha
TENSION is building up at the 29th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, commonly known as COP29, which is being currently held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, 2024.
Over the years, there has been a buildup of mistrust at the annual Climate Change Conference of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and this year’s COP29 has not been an exception, as the voices of mistrust are becoming even louder and louder as most leaders of the developing nations question the real agenda of this conference.
And no country has been as vociferous as BRICS member state India, which has tabled the following discussion points at the conference.
- Carbon debt that is owed by developed countries to developing countries for their overuse of the global carbon budget. Monetisation of this carbon debt would be in trillions.
- Unilateral coercive measures that restrict trade flows and restrict countries from accessing equitable development opportunities
- Intellectual property rights on green technologies, which hinder their free and scalable access to developing countries.
- Science that guides all climate discourse – whether it is based on considerations of global equity and environmental justice?
- How the inequality continues to be perpetuated in the climate discourse.
- The choices of citizens in developed countries being sacrosanct vs the costs imposed on the citizens of developing countries due to transition.
In a recent Wits University article titled “Developing Nations are least responsible for climate change but cop it worst”, Professor Imraan Valodia, Julia Taylor, and Katrina Lehmann-Grube give context on.
Who is responsible for climate change, what risks this climate crisis has created for developing nations, lack of accountability by developed nations, and climate justice?
The researchers correctly highlight how developing nations are suffering the worst, despite emitting far fewer greenhouse gases. To date, two regions – Europe and North America – have contributed fully 60% of the world’s total emissions.
This has made them much richer, but at a cost borne largely by those of us in the Global South. By contrast, Africa and South America are each only responsible for 3% of the world’s total emissions over time. This is just one of many cruel twists of fate.
As the damage done by climate change intensifies, developing countries have to spend more of their budgets on maintaining the status quo – repairing broken bridges, keeping farmers afloat – and less on improving the lives of their citizens."
COP25 and Accountability
The Global South, with the outspoken India taking on rich countries, have used COP29 to also express their complete dissatisfaction with the use of resources on addressing climate change.
The Global South is made to pay the price for the climate change crisis it did not create, and this is exacerbated by the fact that the billions that are pledged by the developed nations and global financial institutions end up being used by the very developed nations whilst the funds are disbursed as loans and debt traps to the developing nations.
The demands by India for COP29 to discuss “carbon debt” owed by developed nations and unilateral trade restrictions imposed on developing countries deserve a united front by Global South countries, especially the argument that has been put forth by India, “that just transition must begin with wealthy nations, not developing economies”.
The legacy of emissions and where we are today
It is accepted that the Global North industrialised their nations through fossil fuels at the expense of the global environment. Therefore, if the world is to take collective responsibility to mitigate climate change, surely the burden to address it will have to fall disproportionately on developing countries, as advocated by India.
For example, to commit and mitigate climate change, Zambia installed a power generation capacity of 3356.6 megawatts, of which 83% of this power is through hydropower generated through flowing water, but the Kariba Dam in Zambia has gone dry due to droughts, and the country now faces more than 21 hours of power cuts.
No different to Zimbabwe, which is also experiencing power shortages due to ongoing droughts and low hydropower generation.
The call made by Leena Nandan, who is leading the Indian delegation, for the Global South countries to not shy away from the topic of developed nations financing climate change in the interest of developing countries as a form of accountability to the climate change crisis without any financial strings attached has never been more justifiable as the Global North carries more responsibility for the climate crisis than the Global South.
India, which has positioned itself as the voice for the Global South, has not shied away from calling out this injustice against the Global South and has called for developed nations to account and pay more for their actions towards the environment.
Climate change finance and the Global South countries at COP29
At the 2020 COP26 Conference that was held in Glasgow, the developed world pledged US$100 billion to assist developing nations to address and mitigate climate change. However, this promise remains unmet, leading to the disillusionment of many in the Global South countries.
At the round table discussion, Ms Nandan of India also emphasised that financial support for climate change must not be reallocated or double-counted for the existing developing aid from the rich nations.
What this means is that the financial support from the developed nations to mitigate climate change must not be interpreted as aid but rather as a form of accountability and responsibility to address the emissions that were caused by the developed nations.
The Global South must unite behind a collective voice
India is boisterously calling for the developed nations to be held to account for climate finance and to not only limit the debate to technical and economic matters but to include justice, equity, and fairness.
The Global South countries must be united on this and to seek to call for total financial transparency and equitable access to resources so that developing nations can use these finances to sustain themselves without compromising their developmental goals.
The developed nations must take responsibility for climate change and continue to provide necessary support for countries that contributed less to climate change.
The Global South countries must be united behind India to interrogate the true cost of pursuing the green energy agenda. This call (interrogation of climate finance) is informed by the revelations that around 80% of the climate change pledges go back to the very rich nations that pledged, while it is claimed it is pledged to the developing nations.
A cleaner and greener planet is non-negotiable; however, as reiterated by the Indian delegation at COP29, the “Just Transitions" must be just, equitable, and fair and not to be used by developed nations as another debt trap to hold the development of countries in the Global South at ransom.
* Phapano Phasha is Chairperson of the Centre for Alternative Political and Economic Thought with a focus on BRICS Plus Countries and the Global South. The views expressed here are her own.