The climate change conference COP28 kicked off with an early win after delegates adopted a climate disaster fund to help poor countries deal with costly climate disasters. UAE’s $100 million, Germany’s $100 million, $51 million from Britain, signalled an early victory for countries that have advocated for climate financing like Uganda.
Developing nations need to spend some $2.4 trillion a year on clean energy and climate resilience by 2030.
“Our task is not only putting words on appear, it is about improving lives. It is about people. All of us want and need the same things – clean earth, clean water, healthy food,” Sultan Al Jaber, the president of the UN Cop28 climate summit said.
Much as these pledges show strong commitments from the rich countries, years may pass without nothing being done.
The British high commissioner to Uganda Kate Airey says leaders need to increase pace in decision making if such pledges are to be realised.
“The future of mankind is really critical, we’ve got to get those policy frameworks, we have to get working for people, for innovators, for communities, for businesses to ensure we can address the challenges, of how communities are currently being affected by climate change and it is only going to become more extreme as time goes forward,” Kate Airey told Nile Post.
On the sidelines of the event, the Ugandan delegation led by Energy minister Ruth Nankabirwa on behalf of Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja showed readiness as they called for a comprehensive transformation of climate finance.
“When we are not seeing the money trickling down to the people; affordable finances so that we can generated and distribute affordable electricity. Since it was declared in Egypt that COP28 is going to be a COP of action for money and technology released to Africa. We really hope it’ll be,” Nankabirwa told a delegation in the Ugandan Pavilion.
Finance has long been at the heart of international climate negotiations, with talks in recent years tainted by the failure of richer countries to make good on their 2009 promise to provide $100 billion a year in climate finance for resilience and clean energy by 2020.