Trillion dollar funding each year to help developing countries combat climate change, says report

Developing countries will need close to $2trillion each year till 2030 to aid in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the rapid effects of climate change, according to new data.

It is necessary for the poorer countries to have access to this kind of funding to switch from fossil fuel usage, invest in renewable energy and other low-carbon technology while simultaneously coping with impacts of extreme weather, says a report commissioned jointly by the United Kingdom and Egyptian governments, presented at the ongoing UN climate summit in Egypt.

The report further states that half of the required financing can be sourced locally by strengthening domestic public money and capital markets, including large amounts of local finance that national development banks can mobilise.

External finance such as the World Bank and other multilateral development banks will also play a key role.

Climate economist Nicholas Stern was a lead author of the climate report.

The Guardian quoted him as saying, 'Rich countries should recognise that it is in their vital self-interest, as well as a matter of justice given the severe impacts caused by their high levels of current and past emissions, to invest in climate action in emerging market and developing countries.'

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'Most of the growth in energy infrastructure and consumption projected to occur over the next decade will be in emerging market and developing countries, and if they lock in dependence on fossil fuels and emissions, the world will not be able to avoid dangerous climate change, damaging and destroying billions of lives and livelihoods in both rich and poor countries,' said Stern, who wrote a landmark 2006 review of the economics of climate change.

While low-carbon economic growth will reduce greenhouse gas emissions it will also help billions of people in poor countries to come out of poverty and get employment opportunities.

Apart from sustainable economic growth, the money will also help the developing countries adapt to climate changes like building better infrastructure such as seawalls and early warning systems.

For more severe impacts of climate breakdown which countries cannot adapt to, known as loss and damage, the money will help to rescue, repair and help in bettering the social fabric.

Funds for addressing loss and damage has been a long-pending demand of poor and developing countries, including India but the issue has faced stiff resistance for the developed countries which have avoided discussions on it for over a decade.

Services such as health and education can be rebuilt of countries torn apart by extreme weather, such as devastating floods, droughts, storms and heatwaves, that is likely to worsen as a result of climate breakdown.