Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
Something significant got done at Cop. The small island states were furious and the oil-rich hosts were smug, but in the end developed countries pledged $300 billion a year in climate finance for poorer ones and the final communiqué set $1.3 trillion a year as a 2035 target for governments and the private sector combined.
None of this is legally binding. The US will pull out of the Cop process in January and stay out for at least four years, and Saudi Arabia was brazen as usual in trying to dilute the communiqué’s language on transitioning away from fossil fuels.
But the small islanders who walked out on Saturday walked back in in time for the signing. $300 billion a year is three times the target three years ago.
A process over which critics have been reading the last rights limps on, and the world warms a shade slower than it would without it.
