After the mixed results of the thirtieth Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP30) in Brazil, expectations are in the implementation of actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
In fact, the “Mutiirão” decision launches a “Global Implementation Accelerator” and the “Belém Mission at 1.5°C”, whose objective is to accelerate the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and national adaptation plans.
Recall that the countries that signed the Paris Agreement had to submit their NDCs before the COP30 that took place from November 10 to 21 in Brazil.
As noted in the NDC Synthesis Report, released at the end of October, the implementation of new climate commitments requires strong and continuous international cooperation, as well as new and innovative approaches to unlock funding and support for developing country Parties.
However, funding to help developing countries deal with climate change was not one of the priorities of COP30, although it continued to influence and generate divisions between countries.
“Finance is perhaps the most important enabler or facilitator of climate action because many of the things that have to be done to combat climate change involve technological changes, infrastructure, and involve a lot of investments. It is necessary to close the gap between countries' mitigation routes and to obtain the resources to implement them,” said Adrián Fernández, executive director of the Climate Initiative of Mexico (ICM).
This is a key issue for Latin American countries such as Mexico, which — like 119 other countries — presented its commitments, if any, in the middle of COP30.
Funding at COP30
Canla press conference during COP30. Source: Daniela Reyes.
Although the financial responsibility of developed countries was not among the items proposed for the official agenda, the presidency decided to send it to informal consultations along with other issues.
At COP29, a new climate finance objective (NCQG) was agreed, which states that developed countries must “lead” the delivery of 300 billion dollars annually until 2035 for developing nations. With the figure well below what was needed, it was defined that Brazil and Azerbaijan would lead an initiative called the “Baku-Belém Roadmap”, a proposal that would indicate ways to reach at least 1.3 trillion dollars in funding (the NCQG “invites” all actors to scale funding to that value). But neither the mention in the decision nor in the road map document is binding, and the proposal was not enough to mobilize countries to increase their commitment to funding.
Without a clear space to discuss it, the issue was diluted and the Mutiirão, the political document that brings together the COP30 agreements, only included the creation of a two-year work program on funding.
“In the end that was the only point to talk about this topic... and it's clearly not enough; it doesn't respond to the conversation that is needed,” said Karla Mass, advocacy advisor at Climate Action Network Latin America (Canla).
He explained that the program covers the entire Article 9 of the Paris Agreement and does not focus on its section 9.1, which establishes the legal obligation for developed countries to provide funding so that developing nations can mitigate and adapt to climate change.
According to Canla, this minimum inclusion “dilutes the legal obligation” of developed countries and leaves a work program “without modalities, without a schedule and without clear products”, which helps to postpone a substantive conversation.
The organization stressed that the discussion about how developed countries will fulfill their commitments is a matter of climate justice that was not reflected in the results of COP30.
“The provision of quality public funding to the countries of the global north is not a whim, it is established in the... Paris Agreement and is a sign of responsibility and solidarity with territories that these countries continue to exploit. The outcome of COP30 is petty, lacking vision and a lack of knowledge that this conversation is here to stay because the debt of the north continues, and is increasing,” Mass said.
For Canla, adequate funding conditions the real possibility of making progress in adaptation, reparations, just transition and implementation of the parties' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Therefore, it requires that resources be public, predictable, concessional, debt-free, based on grants and with direct access for indigenous peoples, local communities, people of African descent, women, youth and people with disabilities.
Without funding there is no implementation
Meeting between Mexican public officials and civil society during COP30. Source: Eduardo Gachúz.
“Regarding funding, we are obviously concerned that the goals we have may not be achieved or are very difficult to achieve,” said Enrique Ochoa, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) of Mexico at a meeting between public officials and civil society during COP30.
Mexico pledged to reduce between 31 and 37% of its current net carbon dioxide equivalent emissions on an unconditional basis by 2035, and added a goal conditional on international funding of 38 to 43%.
To achieve this, Mexico's NDC 3.0 included the enabling environment component and means of implementation, and a specific axis on strategic planning and financing, detailing some financial instruments, such as a green fiscal policy, the implementation of an Emissions Trading System and a National Compensation Program for carbon credits.
It also considers accessing financing from development banks, multilateral funds and international organizations, and the participation of the private sector and civil society in co-financing mechanisms.
During the meeting, Alicia Bárcena, head of the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat), mentioned that they were going to create a public-private fund to finance the projects that are part of the NDC.
“I just agreed with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) that we are going to create a private public fund to attract resources from the private sector, precisely to finance many of the projects that are being presented here and I believe that the National Bank for Public Works and Services (Banobras) is the central vehicle for investments that interest us,” said Bárcena.
Although Mexico has been implementing strategies, these are not enough, according to Fernández, and what it needs is that, in the light of its NDC, it creates a strategy to obtain the investments it requires to meet the goal in the established time.
“Mexico's financial instruments are good, but they weren't designed or enough to fulfill its NDC alone,” Fernández said.
Funding alternatives
Mexico has shown interest in Country Platforms, a strategic mechanism for identifying, mobilizing and channeling public, private, national and international climate finance on a large scale that has already been adopted by South Africa, Brazil and Colombia.
Even during the meeting held with civil society, Bárcena agreed to return to this issue with the organization Climate Initiative of Mexico (ICM).
“The country platform, led by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, will articulate resources for the implementation of various instruments of national climate policy, including the NDC, the National Strategy for Climate Change (ENCC) or the next Special Program on Climate Change (PECC 2026-2030), giving traceability to the resources mobilized,” said Andrea Hurtado, Director General of Policies for Climate Action at Semarnat in written form.
The next step, according to Hurtado, will be to translate Mexico's NDC 3.0 into a portfolio of projects for which financial models must be developed to mobilize resources for each one.
According to Fernández, Mexico's country platform would include all the development projects that the Mexican Government plans to implement, including those deriving from the NDC, as is the case of several Plan Mexico projects.
“The new formula is for countries to develop investment platforms on development and climate, because climate change cannot be understood or addressed in isolation. Today, if we don't take good care of it, climate change is the greatest threat to development in the world,” Fernández said.
The platform works like a large dashboard where all projects and possible sources of private, public, national or international funding are emptied, and then a public tender is made for their implementation.
Although the platform is open to receiving private resources, Fernández said that public investment should focus on those issues that are not profitable but that have great social benefits such as public transport, culture, health or education.
This report was produced within the framework of Climate Tracker Latin America's COP30 coverage program, with support from Oxfam.
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