Finance ministers gather at COP26 to mobilize climate funding

GLASGOW, Scotland

Finance ministers from countries across the world on Wednesday came together at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to discuss how public and private finance could lead the transition to a climate-resilient world.

On the finance day of the conference, finance ministers, international finance institutions, and the financial sector have been giving a wide range of pledges on how they will move to a zero-carbon future.

Channeling funds to fight climate change to developing countries will be one of the main metrics for success in Glasgow.

Rich countries had previously committed $100 billion a year by 2020 in UN climate talks to help underdeveloped countries tackle the effects of climate change.

But, this goal was not achieved and now the COP26 Presidency says it is likely to remain out of reach until 2023.

"Today, there is more public and private finance for climate action than ever before, but to meet the commitments made in the Paris Agreement and keep 1.5 alive, we need developed countries to deliver on public finance," said COP26 President Alok Sharma, referring to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

"That is why we have made finance such a key focus of COP26, why we continue to push for countries to do more to meet their finance obligations," he added.

New pledges from Norway, Japan, Australia

Several countries made new pledges to level up finance to support developing countries in dealing with the impacts of climate change, including a commitment from Norway to triple its climate adaptation finance along from Japan and Australia to double theirs, along with vows by Switzerland, the US, and Canada on adaptation funding.

New commitments for climate financing also came from the UK, Spain, Japan, Australia, Norway, Ireland, and Luxembourg, building on a plan set out ahead of COP26 to mobilize $100 billion per year for developing countries.

Rich countries have been under pressure at COP26 as they were unable to deliver their $100 billion pledge last year.

The climate justice movement called for developed countries to deliver on these promises at the event on Wednesday.