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Credit: United NationsUNITED NATIONS, November 7 (IPS) - “Has the world given up fighting climate change?” was a rhetorical question posed recently by the New York Times, perhaps with a degree of sarcasm. It might look that way, says Christiana Figueres, a founding partner of the nongovernmental organization Global Optimism, “as US president Donald Trump blusters about fossil fuel, Bill Gates prioritizes children’s health over climate protection, and oil and gas companies plan decades of higher production.”
But that’s far from the whole picture, said Figueres, pointing out that the overwhelming majority of the world’s people — 80 to 89%, as Covering Climate Now partner newsrooms have been reporting — want stronger climate action.
Clean energy technologies are attracting twice as much investment as fossil fuels, and solar power and regenerative agriculture are surging across the Global South, she said.
Meanwhile, the United States will not send any high-level officials to the COP30, according to the White House.
John Noel, campaigner with Greenpeace International, told IPS the current administration is ceding leadership and leverage over the clean energy future to other countries.
“It is tragic, but not surprising. But for those of us heading to Belem from the United States, we are on solid ground with public opinion in broad support of the Paris Agreement and are more committed than ever.”
There are avenues, he pointed out, for climate ambition at the subnational level, such as ‘polluter pay’ mechanisms and state incentives for clean energy during the federal lapse in support.
“Global leaders at COP30 must move forward to adopt ambitious climate targets, end global deforestation by 2030, and advance a just energy transition and climate action must continue on” Noel declared.
Addressing the plenary of leaders at the Belem Climate Summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said November 6 “the hard truth is that we have failed to ensure we remain below 1.5 degrees.”
“Science now tells us that a temporary overshoot beyond the 1.5 limit – starting at the latest in the early 2030s – is inevitable. We need a paradigm shift to limit this overshoot’s magnitude and duration and quickly drive it down”.
Even a temporary overshoot will have dramatic consequences. It could push ecosystems past irreversible tipping points, expose billions to unlivable conditions, and amplify threats to peace and security.
Every fraction of a degree means more hunger, displacement, and loss – especially for those least responsible. This is moral failure – and deadly negligence, he warned.
The United Nations, however, will not give up on the 1.5 degrees goal, he declared.
While clean energy technology is rapidly progressing, political will is seen as weakening, and current efforts are insufficient to prevent significant warming. For example, despite a pledge to cut methane emissions, a new U.N. report indicates the goal will likely not be met.
Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, The Oakland Institute, told IPS people must be very concerned that governments, especially Western countries that bear most of the responsibility for the climate crisis, are far from fulfilling their commitments in terms of decreased reduction of GHG, and far from assisting countries with adequate levels of financial assistance for mitigation and adaptation.
“It should be as concerning that the same governments, and prominent financial institutions like the World Bank, are promoting false climate solutions such as carbon markets, which have been proven to be totally ineffective at reducing emissions” she said.
Moreover, it must be clear for everyone that the new mining rush “we are witnessing for so-called critical minerals has nothing to do with the energy transition but rather with the global competition over minerals for various industries such as military, communication technologies, as well as electric vehicles”.
The massive amount of minerals such as lithium and cobalt will be impossible to supply without creating another environmental and human crisis. It is time for governments to make responsible choices towards a real energy transition and stop expanding sectors such as the military that divert public resources and contribute greatly to emissions, she pointed out.
It is widely documented that simply replacing existing gas-powered cars with electric vehicles is impossible. If today’s demand for EVs is projected to 2050, the lithium requirements of the US EV market alone would require triple the amount of lithium currently produced for the entire world.
“We need aggressive policies to reduce the number and size of personal vehicles and deploy effective public infrastructures and other low-carbon means of transportation” declared Mittal.
Speaking a press conference in Qatar November 4, Guterres said governments must arrive at the upcoming COP30 meeting in Brazil with concrete plans to slash their own emissions over the next decade while also delivering climate justice to those on the frontlines of a crisis they did little to cause.
“Just look at Jamaica” he said, referring to the catastrophic devastation caused last week by Hurricane Melissa.
The clean energy revolution means it is possible to cut emissions while growing economies. But developing countries still lack the finance and technologies needed to support these transitions.
In Brazil, countries must agree on a credible plan to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035 for developing countries, he said.
“Developed countries must honour their commitment to double finance for adaptation to at least $40 billion this year. And the Loss and Damage Fund needs to be capitalized with significant contributions.”
COP30 in Belém must be the turning point – where the world delivers a bold and credible response plan to close the ambition and implementation gaps, he said.
“To mobilize the 1.3 US trillion dollars a year by 2035 in climate finance for developing countries; And to advance climate justice for all. The path to 1.5 degrees is narrow – but open.
Let us accelerate to keep that path alive for people, for the planet, and for our common future,” declared Guterres.
Meanwhile New research by Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Centre, finds developing countries are now paying more back to wealthy nations for climate finance loans than they receive- for every 5 dollars they receive they are paying 7 dollars back. 65% of funding is delivered in the form of loans.
This form of crisis profiteering by rich countries is worsening debt burdens and hindering climate action. Compounding this failure, deep cuts to foreign aid threaten to slash climate finance further, betraying the world’s poorest communities who are facing the brunt of escalating climate disasters, says the joint report.
Some key findings of the report:
- • Rich countries claim to have mobilized $116 billion in climate finance 2022, but the true value is only around $28-35 billion, less than a third of the pledged amount.
• Nearly two thirds of climate finance was made as loans, often at standard rates of interest without concessions. As a result, climate finance is adding more each year to developing countries’ debt, which now stands at $3.3 trillion. Countries like France, Japan, and Italy are among the worst culprits.
• Least Developed Countries got only 19.5% and Small Island Developing States 2.9% of total public climate finance over 2021-2022 and half of that was in the form of loans they have to repay.
• Developed nations are profiting from these loans, with repayments outstripping disbursements. In 2022, developing countries received $62 billion in climate loans. We estimate these loans to lead to repayments of up to $88 billion, resulting in a 42% “profit” for creditors.
• Only 3% of finance specifically aimed at enhancing gender equality, despite the climate crisis disproportionately impacting women and girls.
“Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering.”
This failure is occurring as rich countries are conducting the most vicious foreign aid cuts since the 1960s. Data by the OECD data shows a 9% drop in 2024, with 2025 projections signalling a further 9–17% cut.
As the impacts of fossil fuelled climate disasters intensify —displacing millions of people in the Horn of Africa, battering 13 million more in the Philippines, and flooding 600,000 people in Brazil in 2024 alone – communities in low-income countries are left with fewer resources to adapt to the rapidly changing climate, according to the study.
IPS UN Bureau Report
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