Climate Finance Obligations: A Call to Action for Developed Nations

The Urgent Need for Climate Justice

By Moraa Nyangorora

Civil society groups are worried about the precarious state of climate negotiations at COP30.

Developing nations emphasise that Brazil’s new fossil transition and forest roadmaps could collapse without meaningful financial support.

As negotiations enter the final stretch, the anticipated climate package remains elusive.

Despite Brazil's promising roadmaps on transitioning from Fossil Fuels and Forests, there is a growing sense of urgency among developing nations.

“But with two days left to go, the whole package is quite fragile. Unless we get the full package of finance, fairness, and just transition for communities, COP30’s potential promise of a fossil fuel phase-out could prove a mirage.”

— Teresa Anderson, ActionAid’s Global Lead on Climate Justice

For the Global South, the stakes are existential.

Without predictable climate finance, adaptation resources, and just-transition guarantees, countries facing climate shocks risk deeper debt, job losses, and widening poverty.

Key Issues at COP30

Negotiations at COP30 are intense, focusing on several critical issues: climate finance, adaptation funding, loss and damage mechanism, fossil fuel phase-out roadmap, forest protection and a just transition framework that safeguards workers and communities.

Developing nations are demanding predictable support and equity. However, some developed countries resist binding commitments, creating tension over ambition versus fairness.

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) accuses wealthy nations of blocking progress on finance.

They argue that without honouring Paris Agreement commitments, the burden of transition will fall hardest on communities with the fewest resources.

ActionAid International is also calling for the full package of financing to cushion vulnerable communities from the impact of the shift to clean and green energy.

“To keep the planet under 1.5°C warming, the fossil era has to end, and soon. But big change poses major risks for the workers, communities, and countries that currently depend on them. Unless real climate finance or just transition approaches are in place, hits to jobs and economies could end up increasing inequality and poverty.”

The Just Transition Dilemma

The unresolved just transition question looms large. In Africa, coal-dependent communities, including thousands of workers in South Africa’s mining heartlands, face major job losses without retraining, social protection, and investment.

Proposals on the table include: Just Transition Plans, National social dialogue mechanisms, Worker-protection guarantees and International funding windows specifically earmarked for coal-dependent regions.

For many in the Global South, a fair transition is not just climate policy; it is economic survival.

Earlier this week, Action Aid called for a Belem Action Mechanism. This mechanism would guarantee a global approach to coordination, shared learning, and support for implementing a just transition.

The Global Lead for climate justice, Teresa Anderson, emphasised the critical needs of people at the heart of the transition.

She urged wealthy polluting countries to provide trillions of dollars in grant-based climate finance every year to Global South countries.

Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries committed to mobilising USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to support adaptation and mitigation in developing nations.

However, much of the finance delivered is in loans rather than grants, leaving many vulnerable countries at risk.

The Path Forward: New Collective Quantified Goal

COP30 discussions now aim to establish a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).

This goal could potentially reach USD 300 billion per year by 2035, with additional mechanisms to scale up finance to USD 1.3 trillion annually.

The Role of Civil Society

Civil society warns that without predictable, grant-based finance, developing countries cannot transition away from fossil fuels or protect populations from worsening climate disasters.

Networks such as ActionAid, DCJ, CAN-International, and regional grassroots movements are escalating pressure through public campaigns. They are employing naming-and-shaming strategies, litigation, and real-time monitoring of climate finance pledges.

They insist that unless developed countries face consequences for failing to deliver, the Paris Agreement risks becoming a voluntary pledge rather than a global contract for survival.