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What’s the story
India has made significant strides in climate finance, contributing $1.28 billion via multilateral development banks (MDBs) in 2022.
This contribution surpassed those of several developed nations, according to a recent analysis by UK-based think tank ODI and the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance.
India’s contribution was more than countries like Greece ($0.23 billion), Portugal ($0.23 billion), Ireland ($0.3 billion) and New Zealand ($0.27 billion).
Only 12 developed countries met commitments
The ODI report shows that only 12 developed nations met their fair share of international climate finance in 2022.
These include Norway, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, France, Denmark, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Finland.
The study highlights a big gap in climate finance due to the US not contributing its fair share.
Australia, Spain, Canada and the UK also underperformed in this area.
How did others fare?
The analysis identified 30 non-Annex II nations that provided significant climate finance in 2022.
This group includes economies in transition like Poland and Russia, and high-income nations since 1992 like Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.
Middle-income countries with large populations including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines and Pakistan were also included.
Other non-Annex II nations’ contributions
China contributed $2.52 billion in climate finance through MDBs in 2022, while Brazil provided $1.135 billion, South Korea gave $1.13 billion and Argentina donated $1.01 billion.
According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), high-income industrialized nations are responsible for providing finance and technology, to help developing ones combat and adapt to climate change.
These countries have historically benefited from industrialization and contributed most to greenhouse gas emissions.
Developed countries’ unfulfilled pledge
At COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009, developed nations pledged to jointly provide $100 billion each year by 2020, to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
However, this target is yet to be fully met, leading to a significant finance gap.
This shortfall has eroded the trust and hindered climate action in developing countries.
OECD’s claim on climate finance and ODI’s response
In May, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claimed that developed nations had met the long-standing $100 billion-a-year promise.
They did so by offering almost $116 billion in climate finance to developing ones in 2022, with nearly 70% of the money given as loans.
However, ODI researchers argued that many developed countries would make “markedly less progress toward meeting their fair share if the finance provided was accounted for on grant-equivalence terms.”