COP29 takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan this week, The conclusion of the ongoing negotiations of the post-2025 climate goal, also known as the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance or NCQG, is top of the agenda. The goal aims to address the vast, unmet financing needs of global south countries as they tackle both climate adaptation and emissions reduction. As such, it needs to go far beyond the previous US$100 billion target set at COP15 in 2009, but only reached in 2023, predominantly through loans. Will global north countries finally commit this week to a NCQG that not only funds urgent climate action but does so equitably, without leaving developing nations deeper in debt? 

It is unconscionable that global north governments have continuously rejected their responsibility to deliver adequate climate finance for the global south. If developed nations are serious about solving the problem of climate change, as they claim to be, they should agree to a climate finance target that covers the costs of mitigation, adaptation, just transition, and loss and damage. The global south is owed trillions, not billions.

Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development and Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

The negotiations have been marked by a troubling gap between what the global north countries are willing to deliver and what the global south needs, both in terms of the quantity (quantum) and quality of climate finance to be delivered. Negotiations have intensified in the run up to COP29 but some key issues remain unresolved, which campaigner Mariana Paoli, (ChristianAid & CAN-International) says points to deeper  “lack of consensus on most key NCQG elements including quality, quantity, structure, sources and timeframes.” 

NCQG - quantity and quality

The global south-led campaign #PayUp for climate finance, is demanding that global north governments provide at least US$5 trillion per year to the global south in public finance. This is calculated from a 2023 study that projects that global north countries would owe the global south an estimated US$192 trillion in reparations by 2050. This figure represents compensation for the disproportionate climate impact borne by developing nations, which face intensified vulnerabilities as they experience more frequent and severe climate events due to higher emissions from wealthier countries. 

But while the focus of the negotiations remains on the quantum to be committed, we also need to pay attention to the quality of how this finance is delivered. Of the 54 countries facing sever debt problems, 28 are in the top 50 most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, according to UNDP. Yet, in recent years, 70 per cent of climate finance has been delivered in the form of loans, which has fed into a debt and climate vicious circle. Consequently, climate finance must be non-debt-creating, new and additional to other development finance commitments. 

NCQG and gender

The failure to deliver sufficient grant-based new and additional climate finance compounds the challenges based on the most marginalised communities, particularly women within those. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by both climate emergencies and the austerity measures that often follow a debt crisis. In fact, according to UN Women, by 2050, climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into extreme poverty, 16 million more than men and boys, with nearly half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, one of the most indebted regions in the world. 

These challenges are exacerbated by cuts to government public service investments, and food or energy subsidies due to high debt levels, further limitting their access to essential resources. Some of these austerity measures are being dictated by multilateral institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as conditionalities for countries that need access to climate action-related funds. This is the case of the Resilient Sustainability Facility (RSF), which on one hand provides finance to invest in energy transition and other climate resilience actions, while on the other is subject to fiscal consolidation imposed by IMF programme conditionalities.

For women to cease bearing the brunt of both climate and debt crises, the NCQG needs to be both non-debt creating and gender-responsive. In this regard, the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) platform argues that any new climate finance goal must include a commitment to gender-responsive and transformative funding. Currently there are substantial data gaps on gender-responsive climate finance and the integration of gender conversations into climate finance. In response, civil society is calling for the NCQG to include gender-sensitive criteria and dedicated sub-targets within climate finance mechanisms, as well as equitable and transparent monitoring of funding streams

Gender justice at COP29 isn’t peripheral—it’s fundamental. Achieving transformative climate action requires confronting the structural inequalities that drive the climate crisis. Feminist climate justice calls for centring the leadership and rights of women, especially those from marginalised communities disproportionately impacted by debt and climate hardships. True climate action dismantles exploitative systems, prioritising care, gender-just solutions, and community-led pathways to sustainable livelihoods. COP29 must advance this feminist vision: addressing debt, supporting gender-just transitions, and embedding gender justice as pillars of a just and equitable future.

Mwanahamisi Singano, Director of Policy - WEDO

The current climate crisis is a product of a failed economic model that prioritises profit over the livelihood of the planet. COP29 is a critical moment to address the differentiated responsibilities of the global south and the global north, to strive to re-establish trust, and for the latter to deliver on the binding commitment, recognising the owed climate debt. Only by committing to US$5 trillion per year to the global south in fair and non-debt-creating financing, can COP29 be a turning point for genuine climate justice and global equity.

If you are interested in reading more about climate finance and NCQG, please make sure to check out our research here:

• Q & A: The future global climate finance goal (aka NCQG) - what is it, why is it important and what does it entail? by Leia Achampong 07 June 2022
• Efficient, Equitable and Effective High-Quality Climate Finance: Recommendations for the post-2025 global climate finance goal by Leia Achampong 12 August 2022
• Gender-responsive climate finance: The key to just climate action and tackling inequalities by Leia Achampong 13 November 2023
• Joint submission from the Debt and Climate Working Group for the 11th Technical Expert Dialogue of the New Collective Quantified Goal process 05 September 2024
• Webinar: Why does debt matter for climate justice? 18 September 2024
• Download the list of resources on debt and climate