No effective climate protection without financial commitments: This formula should be familiar to the negotiators in Glasgow, Scotland, by now. The money is also one of the sticking points at the World Climate Conference in Glasgow. With urgent appeals, the representatives of poorer countries reminded the industrialized nations of their financial promises – and of what it means for them if not enough is done to stop global warming.
“We can’t wait any longer,” said Sonam Phuntsho Wangdi from the South Asian state of Bhutan, speaking for a group of the least developed countries. “We have contributed the least to this climate crisis.” The 46 countries in the group, in which around one billion people live, are responsible for only one percent of global climate-damaging emissions. At the same time, they are already suffering from climate change on a daily basis. “We are dependent on the decisions that are made here.”
$ 100 billion promise not yet fulfilled
The representative of the developing countries expressed his disappointment that the industrialized countries are late in meeting the promise made in the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015 to provide 100 billion US dollars each year to deal with the climate crisis. “It’s too little and too late,” said Wangdi. Actually, the sum should have been flowing into the severely affected countries since 2020. It is now expected to be reached for the first time in 2023. At least the German State Secretary for the Environment, Jochen Flasbarth, mentioned this year before the COP26.
The states whose doom now seems to be sealed include a number of island states around the globe – known as Sinking Islands. The water here is literally up to their necks because of the rising sea level. At previous climate summits, the representatives of these countries pointed to their desperate situation. In Glasgow they described their situation in drastic, desperate terms. A look at the doomed islands.