发达国家推迟两年兑现气候融资承诺引发质疑

文摘   2024-06-05 17:28   北京  

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发达国家在2009年的COP15大会上承诺,2020年前向发展中国家每年提供1000亿美元的资金支持。5月29日,经济合作与发展组织(OECD)的官方数据显示,发达国家在2022年首次兑现了这一承诺,提供了近1160亿美元的气候资金。这比最初的承诺晚了两年,且专家和运动人士对这一数字表示存疑。


发达国家未能按时实现这一目标一直是联合国气候谈判中的一个痛点,同时也加剧了发达国家与贫穷国家之间的不信任。


根据OECD的最新数据,发达国家在2022年为发展中国家提供和筹集了1159亿美元的气候资金,高于2021年的896亿美元。


OECD秘书长、澳大利亚前财政部长Mathias Cormann表示,“超额完成”年度承诺是“一项重要的、标志性的成就,一定程度上弥补了两年的延迟”,“应有助于建立信任”。


年增长率约为30%,是迄今为止增幅最大的一年,主要源自多边开发银行(捐款最多,达506亿美元)、各国政府以及通过使用公共资金降低投资风险而调动的私人资金的大幅增加。


双边公共资金由发达国家的机构直接提供。多边公共资金指多边开发银行和气候基金提供的资金中属于发达国家的部分。私人资金由双边和多边公共气候融资筹集。


气候融资分析师批评了气候融资的质量和OECD资金计算的方式。


资深气候正义活动家Harjeet Singh说,提供和核算气候融资的过程“充满了含糊不清和不足之处”。长期以来,发展中国家也在抱怨并一直呼吁提高资金计算的清晰度和透明度。Singh说:“大部分资金被重新包装成贷款而非赠款,而且往往与现有援助交织在一起,模糊了真正的财政援助界限。


OECD的报告显示,与往年一样,2022年的公共气候融资主要采取贷款形式,占69%,约 636亿美元。并非所有贷款都是优惠贷款,有些贷款是按市场条件提供的。相比之下,赠款仅占总额的28%,为256亿美元,而股权投资则少得多,仅为24亿美元。


重新贴标的发展援助?

气候融资专家还对捐助国为实现1000亿美元的目标而重新利用现有援助资金表示担忧。总部位于华盛顿的智库全球发展中心(CGD)最近的一项分析估计,2022年发达国家提供的资金中三分之一以上来自现有的援助资金。


CGD高级政策研究员、该报告的作者之一Ian Mitchell说:“资金增加的很大一部分原因是提供方利用、转移和重新贴标了现有的发展资金。”


今年二月,一家独立的监督机构发现,英国在其116亿英镑的气候融资目标中额外增加了17亿英镑(约合21.5亿美元),但却没有向脆弱国家提供更多资金。因为英国试图应对新冠疫情带来的财政压力,而对其他形式的援助进行了重新贴标。



如何计算和跟踪捐助国的气候融资捐款,将是今年11月在阿塞拜疆举行的COP29气候峰会上新融资目标谈判的一部分。


新的集体量化目标(NCQG)是COP29预计做出的最重要决定,它将取代目前将于2025年到期的1000亿美元承诺。


专家们认为,一项雄心勃勃的协议可以发挥至关重要的作用,促使发展中国家,尤其是最贫穷的发展中国家,在2025年初起草新的国家气候计划时,在排放和适应方面承诺采取更有力的行动。


世界资源研究所全球气候、经济和金融主任Melanie Robinson说,填补贫困国家的资金缺口应该是COP29 NCQG谈判的“重中之重”,但成功与否将不仅仅取决于能否获得更高的融资总额。


她说:“例如,新的气候融资目标必须确保资金的可获得性,不能让发展中国家背上更多不可持续的债务负担。”她呼吁采取有力的措施来跟进资金安排的进展情况,让各国对按时履行义务负责,并提高所有气候融资的透明度。


适应性融资取得进展

发达国家正在推动扩大捐助国的范围,对于新目标是否应包括更广泛的气候融资来源也意见不一。紧张的局势一触即发,同时,最脆弱的国家呼吁为适应资金设定具体目标。


为帮助各国经济和社会适应更猛烈的热浪、干旱、风暴、洪水等极端天气而提供的资金,一直远远落后于对清洁能源和其他减排措施的投资——即使这些气候影响的加速速度超过了科学家的预期。


在2021年COP26气候谈判的压力下,发达国家相互敦促,到2025年向发展中国家提供的适应资金至少要比2019年的190亿美元翻一番。


OECD的数据显示,2022年,计划执行到一半时,发达国家提供的适应资金增至289亿美元,达到历史最高水平,另外还从私营部门筹集了35亿美元。



一家总部设在巴黎的监督机构表示,在实现目标方面“已经取得了进展,但需要继续保持”。


活动家Singh说,易受气候变化影响的群众和生态系统需要发达国家的紧急行动,提供“真正的、实质性的财政支持”。“这不仅仅是数字的问题,而是诚信和真正支持的问题。”他补充说,“今天,发展中国家在摆脱化石燃料和应对气候影响方面的资金需求已飙升至数万亿。”


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Executive Summary


Rich nations meet $100bn climate finance goal – two years late


Developed countries gave nearly $116 billion in climate finance in 2022, but experts and campaigners questioned how the target was met


For the first time, rich nations in 2022 delivered on a longstanding pledge to channel $100 billion a year in climate finance to developing nations – two years later than originally promised, official figures showed on Wednesday.


Their failure to meet the goal on time has been a sore point in the UN climate talks, fuelling distrust between wealthy governments and poorer countries, which have struggled to cover the cost of switching to cleaner energy and adapting to worsening climate change impacts.


According to the new data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), developed countries provided and mobilised $115.9 billion in climate finance for developing countries in 2022, up from $89.6 billion in 2021.


OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, a former Australian finance minister, said “exceeding” the annual commitment was “an important and symbolic achievement which goes some way towards making up for the two-year delay” and “should help build trust”.


The year-to-year increase of around 30% was the largest to date and was driven by significant funding increases from multilateral development banks – which contributed the most at $50.6 billion – individual governments and private finance mobilised by using public money to reduce investment risk.


Climate finance analysts criticised the quality of climate finance and the way the OECD calculates the figures.


Harjeet Singh, a veteran climate justice activist, said the process of providing and accounting for climate finance “is riddled with ambiguity and inadequacies” – a complaint long echoed by developing countries, which have called for more clarity and transparency on how the numbers are worked out.


“Much of the funding is repackaged as loans rather than grants and is often intertwined with existing aid, blurring the lines of true financial assistance,” said Singh.


The OECD report showed that in 2022, as in previous years, public climate finance mainly took the form of loans, which accounted for 69% or $63.6 billion. Not all of this lending was concessional, some was on market terms.


Grants, by contrast, made up just 28% of the total at $25.6 billion, with equity investments far smaller at $2.4 billion.


Development aid re-labelled?


Climate finance experts have also raised concerns over donor countries repurposing existing aid flows to meet the $100-billion target. A recent analysis by the Center for Global Development (CGD), a Washington-based think-tank, estimated that over a third of the money provided by developed countries in 2022 came from existing aid pots.


“A significant part of the increase is due to providers stretching, redirecting, and re-labelling existing development finance,” said Ian Mitchell, senior policy fellow at CGD and one of the report’s authors.


In February, an independent watchdog found the UK had counted an additional £1.7 billion ($2.15 billion) towards its £11.6-billion climate finance target without giving any more money to vulnerable countries, mainly by re-badging other forms of aid as it sought to counter fiscal pressures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.


The way in which climate finance contributions by donor countries are counted and tracked will be part of negotiations this year on a new finance goal set to be agreed at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November.


The new collective quantified goal (NCQG) for finance is the most important decision expected to be taken at this year’s COP and will replace the current $100-billion commitment, due to expire in 2025.


Experts believe an ambitious deal can play a crucial role in getting developing countries, especially the poorest ones, to commit to stronger action on emissions and adaptation as they draft their new national climate plans due in early 2025.


Melanie Robinson, global climate, economics and finance director at the World Resources Institute, said filling the funding gap for poorer nations should be “the top priority” for the NCQG negotiations at COP29 but success will hinge on more than just securing a much larger top-line dollar amount.


“For instance, it is crucial that the new climate finance goal ensures that funding is accessible and doesn’t burden developing countries with more unsustainable debt,” she said, calling for strong measures to report progress, hold countries accountable for meeting their obligations on time and boost the transparency of all climate finance. 

‘Progress on adaptation finance’


Alongside simmering tensions over a push by wealthy nations to expand the pool of donor countries, and differing views on whether the new goal should include wider sources of climate finance, the most vulnerable countries have called for a specific target for adaptation funding.


Finance to help countries adapt their economies and societies to fiercer heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods, as well as rising seas, has always lagged far behind investment in clean energy and other measure to cut emissions – even as those climate impacts accelerate faster than scientists expected.


Under pressure at the COP26 climate talks in 2021, developed countries urged each other to at least double their provision of adaptation finance to developing nations by 2025 from the roughly $19 billion they gave in 2019.


This week, the OECD figures showed that at the halfway point in 2022, adaptation funding from developed nations rose to $28.9 billion – the highest ever – with an additional $3.5 billion mobilised from the private sector.


The Paris-based watchdog said progress towards meeting the target “has been made and needs to be maintained”.


Activist Singh said climate-vulnerable people and ecosystems needed rich nations to urgently step up and deliver “real, substantial financial support”.


“It’s not just about the numbers; it’s about integrity and genuine support,” he added. “As we stand today, the financial needs of developing countries for transitioning away from fossil fuels and dealing with climate impacts have skyrocketed into the trillions.”


文章内容于2024年5月29日发表于Climate Home News。文章仅代表作者观点,不代表本公众号立场。

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封面图源:k.sina.com

翻译/韩迪   审校/汪燕辉    排版/包林洁

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