Oxfam reaction to the June UN Climate Meetings

“These climate talks felt like treading water in a rising tide, with the world’s biggest economies failing to act with the urgency this crisis demands. Rich countries continue to shirk their responsibilities in contributing their fair share to the global effort to reduce carbon pollution. This inertia is particularly alarming as we head toward COP29 in Baku, with little progress on stepping up emissions cuts or setting a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance.

“It’s really disheartening to see rich countries trying to water down their Paris Agreement obligations — take the US, for example, pushing to remove mentions from draft NCQG texts of rich countries’ obligations to provide financial support to countries most impacted by climate change. And this trend of shifting the focus to private investment instead of championing public, grant-based financing undermines the very essence of climate justice. It’s naive — or maybe even disingenuous — to think that private finance can in any way be a panacea for Global South countries to fund adaptation, loss and damage and moving to a low-carbon economy in a way that is fair for everyone.

“If governments are serious about confronting the climate crisis, they must acknowledge their historical responsibilities and commit to tackling inequality by providing transparent and transformative financial support to low- and middle-income countries.”

/ENDS