COP29

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” Global North takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

For Immediate Release

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 24 NOV 24 –  COP29 has been less of a COP and more of a carefully manipulated cop-out by Global North governments that have used the Baku climate talks to sideline the core principles of a party-driven process to finalise their decades-long Great Escape and to rip apart the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, lighting fire to a just global response to the climate crisis.

For the past two weeks, the Baku stadium has become a place of unprecedented broken trust, departure from established precedent, empty promises, and political bullying where Global North governments– led by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom– have bullied their way out of moral and legal responsibility for addressing the climate crisis and paying their climate debt. This escapist agenda has been enabled by a UNFCCC and COP29 presidency that has repeatedly departed from established protocol on multiple occasions to pave the way for this agenda, including in the closing plenary where the decision on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance (NCQG) was gavelled through by the presidency, and celebrated by the Executive Secretary, without consensus by Parties and multiple governments objecting. 

When so much is on the line, COP29 has forced through a deal that condemns those across the Global South, withholding the finance, collaboration, and technology needed to prevent a total climate collapse. These Global North governments have made it clear that they have no intention of being partners in global climate action, as communities across the Global South and the world grapple with a deadly and devastating crisis that is wreaking havoc on billions of lives around the world. 

When so many lives are at stake, no deal is better than a bad deal, which is why DCJ adamantly rejects this deal, alongside multiple Global South governments that have also rejected the deal–including Cuba, India, Bolivia, and Nigeria. The outcomes of COP29–which include rules that will scale up risky and ineffective carbon markets on one hand, and massively underdelivering on the Global North’s climate debt on the other– are not even close to delivering the public climate finance and real solutions owed to the Global South by the Global North. We will not back down from demanding the climate justice, real solutions, and the public climate finance we need to achieve a just and equitable transition off fossil fuels. 

COP29 has failed to take into account our lived realities, and has weighed our lives and livelihoods as wanting and unnecessary, instead pushing our communities into further devastation by offering only false solutions like debt swaps, carbon markets, loans and green bonds.

The NCQG decision that was adopted by the presidency without any opportunity for parties to stop the decision:

  1. is too far from the needs of developing countries as calculated in numerous surveys to be in the trillions, offering only $300 billion with no guarantee of any public provision of funding that does not put Global South countries into deeper debt.
  2. excludes Loss and Damage in the goal, a glaring oversight.
  3. backs the US-led argument that the finance should come not from the governments responsible for the climate crisis, but from development banks and private investors, thereby, allowing developed countries to exit their obligations to provide finance.

DCJ, cannot and will not accept today’s outcome at Baku, which has failed the world, particularly communities in the Global South. The days of climate impunity and climate obstruction must end. Climate justice now!

Quotes by DCJ members

“The outcome of COP29 is an outrageous insult to the people of the Global South. The pennies that have been thrown our way not only fall short of the trillions we are owed, this paltry amount will be delivered in the form of private finance and loans that will deepen the debts of already impoverished countries. COP29 will always be remembered as the COP where Global North governments permanently exited from their climate finance obligations, with the United States leading the way. From killing the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 to now selling out the Global South to the private sector, the US has always been the biggest blocker of climate action. By protecting their own interests and sabotaging COP29, the US and the rest of the Global North have condemned the world to climate catastrophe.” Lidy Nacpil, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development

“The finalisation of the COP29 outcome was through a process that was unfair as the decision was gavelled without hearing objections from the parties. Developed countries once again escaped their obligations to commit to the provision of significant public resources to developing countries. They agreed only to mobilise financial resources without a firm commitment on what quantum they will provide in climate finance. They were wrangling with developing countries, behaving as if they were in a fish market, haggling over what they can offer, without a clear finance commitment. They expect developing countries to show greater ambition on mitigation and adaptation without the commensurate ambition on finance. This is not just a joke but a serious insult to developing countries, as they pretend with slogans to keep the 1.5 degree C alive, abdicating their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement and risking lives of the poor and wrecking the planet. “ Meena Raman, Third World Network 

“The forced gavelling of a sham COP29 decision over the fierce opposition of developing countries is nothing short of an authoritarian insult to the principles of equity and justice enshrined in the climate process, convention, and the Paris Agreement. This decision, imposed without consensus, denies the Global South the climate finance needed for urgent climate action. Finance is not charity—it is reparations for the historical emissions and continued exploitation by developed nations.

The trillions we demand are essential to address the climate induced destruction. Yet, instead of honouring their obligations, wealthy nations have pushed a fraudulent outcome built on inadequate pledges, speculative private funds, and the unconscionable idea of making the Global South pay for a crisis it did not cause.

We the Global South categorically reject this illegitimate outcome. We will not accept the erasure of equity, nor will we allow the historical responsibility of polluters to be diluted under the guise of voluntary commitments and privatised finance. Our nations may have been sidelined in the COP halls, but we will carry this fight into every space, every movement, and every avenue for climate justice. This is not an end—it is the start of a stronger, unified resistance against climate colonialism and for the survival and dignity of our people.” Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“It is infuriating to hear rich countries claim there is no money to repay the climate debt owed to the South whilst pouring billions into the genocide in Palestine. More than empty promises and expressions of solidarity, we need accountability and action to deliver both climate justice and justice for Palestinians.” Abeer Butmeh, PENGON / Friends of the Earth Palestine

“Without sufficient financial commitment from developed countries, we guarantee the disappearance of South American forests, the degradation of our key ecosystems to sustain the climate balance. In other words, we condemn the Paris Agreement to failure and the NDCs to non-compliance. COP29 leaves a void that will be very difficult to overcome at COP30 in Brazil.” Antonio Zambrano Allende, Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climático – MOCICC/Perú

“The UK and other Global North countries have bullied, stalled, manipulated & now stage managed the outcome of  the UN Climate Summit COP29, to try to escape their responsibility for causing the climate crisis. Rich countries have ignored the combined call from climate justice groups and Global South countries to bulldoze through this unjust deal. $300 billion is inadequate—it’s nowhere near enough to cut emissions fast enough, adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown, or support Global South countries in growing cleanly. It’s not the public finance needed. The message now is clear: only by building our collective power as people can we deliver a just and equitable transition to a future where everyone can live with dignity, in harmony with the planet.” Asad Rehman, War on Want

“We came here at COP29 to serve an invoice to the global North for the long overdue climate debt they owe to the global South but what we got instead are false solutions. Not only are rich polluters refusing to pay up; they are also seeking to profit off of the sufferings of impacted communities by peddling loans, carbon markets, green bonds, debt swaps, and other market-based distractions that turn the obligatory character of the climate finance we demand around. What was dubbed to be a finance COP has been exposed to be a false-solutions COP, swarmed with fossil fuel lobbyists, subverted by rich polluters, rigged to fail. The fight for accountability, reparations, and climate justice continues as we exit COP29 and go back to our communities.” Ivan Enrile, Climate Justice Programme Lead, IBON International

“Once again, in Baku, the climate negotiations reflect the core of the capitalist and colonialist model that is at the root of the planetary crisis. Rich countries, which for centuries have violated the territories of the global South, and have caused serious losses and damages due to climate change, refuse to commit financing to face the crisis and impose false solutions that increase the vulnerability and dependence of our countries.” Eduardo Giesen, DCJ Regional Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean 

“At COP29, developed nations once again coerced developing countries into accepting a financial deal woefully inadequate to address the gravity of our global climate crisis. The deal fails to provide the critical support required for developing countries to transition swiftly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy systems, or to prepare for the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, leaving them severely under-resourced. The outcome offers false hope to those already bearing the brunt of climate disasters and abandons vulnerable communities and nations, leaving them to face these immense challenges alone. We must persist in our fight, demanding a significant increase in financing and holding developed countries to account for delivering real, impactful actions.” Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

“Blame Baku’s disastrous deal on US bullying with its “my way, or the highway” brand of climate diplomacy. US State Department officials demanded more mitigation from developing countries but refused to deliver any financing developing countries are requesting, all while expanding its own fossil fuels production to set a world record for oil output. US attempts to diminish their legal obligations to provide finance proved successful, leaving a shameful legacy of global climate injustice by the Biden Presidency. As champions of their own rules-based-order, what we saw was, “We make the rules, so follow our orders,” where the US flouts the rules when it suits them.”  But the world wouldn’t fall for it in Baku since the injustices imposed by climate change are so severe, with many, many countries vociferously opposing the gaveling through of the decision. Victor Menotti, US Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“The supposed ‘COP of climate finance’ has turned into the ‘COP of false solutions’. The same rich countries that have been pouring billions into the genocide in Gaza, shirked their historical responsibilities at COP29 with a terrible deal that destroys the notion of equity, provides only pennies to the Global South, and pushes private debt creating finance. This is an insult to developing countries and the climate debt that they are owed. Further, the one thing that COP29 did achieve is the operationalisation of fraudulent, failed, and harmful carbon markets, continuing to provide a get out of jail free card to Big Polluters whilst devastating communities and ecosystems around the world.” Lise Masson, Friends of the Earth International

“COP29 delivered not climate action, not climate debt, not climate justice, but a climate crisis on steroids. Ramping up carbon markets— which do not reduce emissions—and offering way too little public climate finance far too late means the legacy of COP29 will still be millions of lives that never needed to be lost. Global North governments like the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom will deploy their manipulative PR machines to celebrate themselves and blame others for kicking the can down the road, but these are the world’s largest historical polluters with the deepest fossil-fueled pockets, and they are the ones who are to blame. These governments will continue to spend trillions on the war machines that fuel genocide in Palestine and violence around the world, while coming to Baku offering nothing but bad deals that are worse than no deals. COP29 was a COP for and by Big Polluters–look no further than the nearly 1800 fossil fuel lobbyists that infiltrated these talks in Baku. We will not be silent while inaction continues to condemn people and the planet. We need real solutions, Real Zero, real climate finance–now.” Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability

“Rich countries have completely failed to make a credible offer to pay up on climate finance: pull back the layers of proposals and it’s a recipe for spiralling debt and deepening destruction in the global south. Today’s outcome is a damning indictment of the rich world’s priorities. This must be a wake-up call. Rich governments including the UK must take their role in finding innovative forms of finance seriously. That means taking on the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich through permanent polluters’ taxes and wealth taxes, not leaving it to financial engineering in the City of London. Power and resources must be shifted from the corporations profiting at our collective expense to countries in the global south, suffering the worst impacts of a problem they have done the least to cause.” Izzie McIntosh, Climate Campaign Manager, Global Justice Now

“The COP29 finance package is a glaring example of misplaced priorities and broken promises. The entire process has been deeply flawed—excluding key voices, disregarding historical emissions and sidelining the principles of equity and justice. Once again, world leaders have failed to step up, choosing to ignore the urgent need for transformative funding. While $2.6 trillion continues to support harmful subsidies that drive pollution, deforestation and fossil fuel expansion, an opportunity to redirect these resources to the very communities that sustain our planet’s biodiversity and resilience has been squandered. These frontline communities, who hold the key to our planet’s survival, are left behind, while destructive industries like factory farming are allowed to flourish. Kelly Dent, Director of External Engagement & Media, World Animal Protection 

“Colonial thinking and a desire to continue business-as-usual from developed countries has dominated this COP, with vulnerable countries forced once again to fight for their lives and ultimately be ignored. Rich countries, who hold the responsibility for the climate crisis, have failed to deliver the finance needed to support communities facing the worst impacts. They should be ashamed of their greed, as it has once again led to a failed COP.” Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth (ANGRY)

“The $300 billion climate finance offer at Baku is a scam — nowhere near what’s needed and not debt-free. Rich countries  are planning for fossil fuel phaseout failure and dodging responsibilities by forcing developing countries and the private sector to cover the bill. This creates a debt trap for those most vulnerable to the climate crisis. If rich countries put their hoarded trillions on the table instead of making excuses, we’d see real progress on fossil fuel phase-out. The US, EU, and UK show sickening indifference while millions pay with their lives. We will not give up.” Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International Global Public Finance Manager

“COP29 got off to a very bad start by perpetuating the colonial model and human rights violations, and by opening the floodgates to geoengineering through the adoption of Article 6.4 on carbon markets. Unfortunately, it has ended as badly as it began; the lack of ambition and finance by developed countries and the promotion of false solutions to address climate change will be mostly suffered by those who have contributed the least to this crisis” Coraina de la Plaza, Global Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth Alliance

Quotes in Spanish:

“Una vez más, en Bakú, las negociaciones climáticas reflejan el fondo del modelo capitalista y colonialista que está en el origen de la crisis planetaria. Los países ricos, que por siglos han vulnerado los territorios del Sur global, y han provocado graves pérdidas y daños por el cambio climático, se niegan a comprometer el financiamiento para enfrentar la crisis e imponen falsas soluciones que aumentan la vulnerabilidad y dependencia de nuestros países. “ Eduardo Giesen, coordinador regional de DCJ para Latinoamérica y el Caribe 

Contact Us: 

Esthappen S, DCJ, +91-9820918910, [email protected], 

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

X: @gcdcj 

Interventions

Intervention: Closing Plenary

My name is Rachitaa Gupta and I am speaking on behalf of ENGO CAN, ENGO DCJ, TUNGO and WCJ. We refuse to make an official statement and contribute to the sham of a process. We will not be complicit in the failure of COP that has turned from a Conference of Parties into a conference of developed countries. We refuse to bring more legitimacy to a system that is collectively failing all of us for the benefit of a few. Thank you.

COP29

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” Global North takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol.

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ)

For Immediate Release

COP29 delivers death sentence for millions amidst “stage managed” Global North takedown of trust, collaboration, and protocol

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 24 NOV 24 –  COP29 has been less of a COP and more of a carefully manipulated cop-out by Global North governments that have used the Baku climate talks to sideline the core principles of a party-driven process to finalise their decades-long Great Escape and to rip apart the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, lighting fire to a just global response to the climate crisis.

For the past two weeks, the Baku stadium has become a place of unprecedented broken trust, departure from established precedent, empty promises, and political bullying where Global North governments– led by the United States, European Union and United Kingdom– have bullied their way out of moral and legal responsibility for addressing the climate crisis and paying their climate debt. This escapist agenda has been enabled by a UNFCCC and COP29 presidency that has repeatedly departed from established protocol on multiple occasions to pave the way for this agenda, including in the closing plenary where the decision on the New Collective Quantified Goal on Finance (NCQG) was gavelled through by the presidency, and celebrated by the Executive Secretary, without consensus by Parties and multiple governments objecting. 

When so much is on the line, COP29 has forced through a deal that condemns those across the Global South, withholding the finance, collaboration, and technology needed to prevent a total climate collapse. These Global North governments have made it clear that they have no intention of being partners in global climate action, as communities across the Global South and the world grapple with a deadly and devastating crisis that is wreaking havoc on billions of lives around the world. 

When so many lives are at stake, no deal is better than a bad deal, which is why DCJ adamantly rejects this deal, alongside multiple Global South governments that have also rejected the deal–including Cuba, India, Bolivia, and Nigeria. The outcomes of COP29–which include rules that will scale up risky and ineffective carbon markets on one hand, and massively underdelivering on the Global North’s climate debt on the other– are not even close to delivering the public climate finance and real solutions owed to the Global South by the Global North. We will not back down from demanding the climate justice, real solutions, and the public climate finance we need to achieve a just and equitable transition off fossil fuels. 

COP29 has failed to take into account our lived realities, and has weighed our lives and livelihoods as wanting and unnecessary, instead pushing our communities into further devastation by offering only false solutions like debt swaps, carbon markets, loans and green bonds.

The NCQG decision that was adopted by the presidency without any opportunity for parties to stop the decision:

  1. is too far from the needs of developing countries as calculated in numerous surveys to be in the trillions, offering only $300 billion with no guarantee of any public provision of funding that does not put Global South countries into deeper debt.
  2. excludes Loss and Damage in the goal, a glaring oversight.
  3. backs the US-led argument that the finance should come not from the governments responsible for the climate crisis, but from development banks and private investors, thereby, allowing developed countries to exit their obligations to provide finance.

DCJ, cannot and will not accept today’s outcome at Baku, which has failed the world, particularly communities in the Global South. The days of climate impunity and climate obstruction must end. Climate justice now!

Quotes by DCJ members

“The outcome of COP29 is an outrageous insult to the people of the Global South. The pennies that have been thrown our way not only fall short of the trillions we are owed, this paltry amount will be delivered in the form of private finance and loans that will deepen the debts of already impoverished countries. COP29 will always be remembered as the COP where Global North governments permanently exited from their climate finance obligations, with the United States leading the way. From killing the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 to now selling out the Global South to the private sector, the US has always been the biggest blocker of climate action. By protecting their own interests and sabotaging COP29, the US and the rest of the Global North have condemned the world to climate catastrophe.” Lidy Nacpil, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development

“The finalisation of the COP29 outcome was through a process that was unfair as the decision was gavelled without hearing objections from the parties. Developed countries once again escaped their obligations to commit to the provision of significant public resources to developing countries. They agreed only to mobilise financial resources without a firm commitment on what quantum they will provide in climate finance. They were wrangling with developing countries, behaving as if they were in a fish market, haggling over what they can offer, without a clear finance commitment. They expect developing countries to show greater ambition on mitigation and adaptation without the commensurate ambition on finance. This is not just a joke but a serious insult to developing countries, as they pretend with slogans to keep the 1.5 degree C alive, abdicating their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement and risking lives of the poor and wrecking the planet. “ Meena Raman, Third World Network 

“The forced gavelling of a sham COP29 decision over the fierce opposition of developing countries is nothing short of an authoritarian insult to the principles of equity and justice enshrined in the climate process, convention, and the Paris Agreement. This decision, imposed without consensus, denies the Global South the climate finance needed for urgent climate action. Finance is not charity—it is reparations for the historical emissions and continued exploitation by developed nations.

The trillions we demand are essential to address the climate induced destruction. Yet, instead of honouring their obligations, wealthy nations have pushed a fraudulent outcome built on inadequate pledges, speculative private funds, and the unconscionable idea of making the Global South pay for a crisis it did not cause.

We the Global South categorically reject this illegitimate outcome. We will not accept the erasure of equity, nor will we allow the historical responsibility of polluters to be diluted under the guise of voluntary commitments and privatised finance. Our nations may have been sidelined in the COP halls, but we will carry this fight into every space, every movement, and every avenue for climate justice. This is not an end—it is the start of a stronger, unified resistance against climate colonialism and for the survival and dignity of our people.” Rachitaa Gupta, Global Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“It is infuriating to hear rich countries claim there is no money to repay the climate debt owed to the South whilst pouring billions into the genocide in Palestine. More than empty promises and expressions of solidarity, we need accountability and action to deliver both climate justice and justice for Palestinians.” Abeer Butmeh, PENGON / Friends of the Earth Palestine

“Without sufficient financial commitment from developed countries, we guarantee the disappearance of South American forests, the degradation of our key ecosystems to sustain the climate balance. In other words, we condemn the Paris Agreement to failure and the NDCs to non-compliance. COP29 leaves a void that will be very difficult to overcome at COP30 in Brazil.” Antonio Zambrano Allende, Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climático – MOCICC/Perú

“The UK and other Global North countries have bullied, stalled, manipulated & now stage managed the outcome of  the UN Climate Summit COP29, to try to escape their responsibility for causing the climate crisis. Rich countries have ignored the combined call from climate justice groups and Global South countries to bulldoze through this unjust deal. $300 billion is inadequate—it’s nowhere near enough to cut emissions fast enough, adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown, or support Global South countries in growing cleanly. It’s not the public finance needed. The message now is clear: only by building our collective power as people can we deliver a just and equitable transition to a future where everyone can live with dignity, in harmony with the planet.” Asad Rehman, War on Want

“We came here at COP29 to serve an invoice to the global North for the long overdue climate debt they owe to the global South but what we got instead are false solutions. Not only are rich polluters refusing to pay up; they are also seeking to profit off of the sufferings of impacted communities by peddling loans, carbon markets, green bonds, debt swaps, and other market-based distractions that turn the obligatory character of the climate finance we demand around. What was dubbed to be a finance COP has been exposed to be a false-solutions COP, swarmed with fossil fuel lobbyists, subverted by rich polluters, rigged to fail. The fight for accountability, reparations, and climate justice continues as we exit COP29 and go back to our communities.” Ivan Enrile, Climate Justice Programme Lead, IBON International

“Once again, in Baku, the climate negotiations reflect the core of the capitalist and colonialist model that is at the root of the planetary crisis. Rich countries, which for centuries have violated the territories of the global South, and have caused serious losses and damages due to climate change, refuse to commit financing to face the crisis and impose false solutions that increase the vulnerability and dependence of our countries.” Eduardo Giesen, DCJ Regional Coordinator, Latin America and the Caribbean 

“At COP29, developed nations once again coerced developing countries into accepting a financial deal woefully inadequate to address the gravity of our global climate crisis. The deal fails to provide the critical support required for developing countries to transition swiftly from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy systems, or to prepare for the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, leaving them severely under-resourced. The outcome offers false hope to those already bearing the brunt of climate disasters and abandons vulnerable communities and nations, leaving them to face these immense challenges alone. We must persist in our fight, demanding a significant increase in financing and holding developed countries to account for delivering real, impactful actions.” Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative

“Blame Baku’s disastrous deal on US bullying with its “my way, or the highway” brand of climate diplomacy. US State Department officials demanded more mitigation from developing countries but refused to deliver any financing developing countries are requesting, all while expanding its own fossil fuels production to set a world record for oil output. US attempts to diminish their legal obligations to provide finance proved successful, leaving a shameful legacy of global climate injustice by the Biden Presidency. As champions of their own rules-based-order, what we saw was, “We make the rules, so follow our orders,” where the US flouts the rules when it suits them.”  But the world wouldn’t fall for it in Baku since the injustices imposed by climate change are so severe, with many, many countries vociferously opposing the gaveling through of the decision. Victor Menotti, US Coordinator, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

“The supposed ‘COP of climate finance’ has turned into the ‘COP of false solutions’. The same rich countries that have been pouring billions into the genocide in Gaza, shirked their historical responsibilities at COP29 with a terrible deal that destroys the notion of equity, provides only pennies to the Global South, and pushes private debt creating finance. This is an insult to developing countries and the climate debt that they are owed. Further, the one thing that COP29 did achieve is the operationalisation of fraudulent, failed, and harmful carbon markets, continuing to provide a get out of jail free card to Big Polluters whilst devastating communities and ecosystems around the world.” Lise Masson, Friends of the Earth International

“COP29 delivered not climate action, not climate debt, not climate justice, but a climate crisis on steroids. Ramping up carbon markets— which do not reduce emissions—and offering way too little public climate finance far too late means the legacy of COP29 will still be millions of lives that never needed to be lost. Global North governments like the United States, European Union, and United Kingdom will deploy their manipulative PR machines to celebrate themselves and blame others for kicking the can down the road, but these are the world’s largest historical polluters with the deepest fossil-fueled pockets, and they are the ones who are to blame. These governments will continue to spend trillions on the war machines that fuel genocide in Palestine and violence around the world, while coming to Baku offering nothing but bad deals that are worse than no deals. COP29 was a COP for and by Big Polluters–look no further than the nearly 1800 fossil fuel lobbyists that infiltrated these talks in Baku. We will not be silent while inaction continues to condemn people and the planet. We need real solutions, Real Zero, real climate finance–now.” Rachel Rose Jackson, Corporate Accountability

“Rich countries have completely failed to make a credible offer to pay up on climate finance: pull back the layers of proposals and it’s a recipe for spiralling debt and deepening destruction in the global south. Today’s outcome is a damning indictment of the rich world’s priorities. This must be a wake-up call. Rich governments including the UK must take their role in finding innovative forms of finance seriously. That means taking on the fossil fuel industry and the super-rich through permanent polluters’ taxes and wealth taxes, not leaving it to financial engineering in the City of London. Power and resources must be shifted from the corporations profiting at our collective expense to countries in the global south, suffering the worst impacts of a problem they have done the least to cause.” Izzie McIntosh, Climate Campaign Manager, Global Justice Now

“The COP29 finance package is a glaring example of misplaced priorities and broken promises. The entire process has been deeply flawed—excluding key voices, disregarding historical emissions and sidelining the principles of equity and justice. Once again, world leaders have failed to step up, choosing to ignore the urgent need for transformative funding. While $2.6 trillion continues to support harmful subsidies that drive pollution, deforestation and fossil fuel expansion, an opportunity to redirect these resources to the very communities that sustain our planet’s biodiversity and resilience has been squandered. These frontline communities, who hold the key to our planet’s survival, are left behind, while destructive industries like factory farming are allowed to flourish. Kelly Dent, Director of External Engagement & Media, World Animal Protection 

“Colonial thinking and a desire to continue business-as-usual from developed countries has dominated this COP, with vulnerable countries forced once again to fight for their lives and ultimately be ignored. Rich countries, who hold the responsibility for the climate crisis, have failed to deliver the finance needed to support communities facing the worst impacts. They should be ashamed of their greed, as it has once again led to a failed COP.” Dylan Hamilton, Alliance of Non-Governmental Radical Youth (ANGRY)

“The $300 billion climate finance offer at Baku is a scam — nowhere near what’s needed and not debt-free. Rich countries  are planning for fossil fuel phaseout failure and dodging responsibilities by forcing developing countries and the private sector to cover the bill. This creates a debt trap for those most vulnerable to the climate crisis. If rich countries put their hoarded trillions on the table instead of making excuses, we’d see real progress on fossil fuel phase-out. The US, EU, and UK show sickening indifference while millions pay with their lives. We will not give up.” Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International Global Public Finance Manager

“COP29 got off to a very bad start by perpetuating the colonial model and human rights violations, and by opening the floodgates to geoengineering through the adoption of Article 6.4 on carbon markets. Unfortunately, it has ended as badly as it began; the lack of ambition and finance by developed countries and the promotion of false solutions to address climate change will be mostly suffered by those who have contributed the least to this crisis” Coraina de la Plaza, Global Coordinator, Hands Off Mother Earth Alliance

Quotes in Spanish:

“Una vez más, en Bakú, las negociaciones climáticas reflejan el fondo del modelo capitalista y colonialista que está en el origen de la crisis planetaria. Los países ricos, que por siglos han vulnerado los territorios del Sur global, y han provocado graves pérdidas y daños por el cambio climático, se niegan a comprometer el financiamiento para enfrentar la crisis e imponen falsas soluciones que aumentan la vulnerabilidad y dependencia de nuestros países. “ Eduardo Giesen, coordinador regional de DCJ para Latinoamérica y el Caribe 

Contact Us: 

Esthappen S, DCJ, +91-9820918910, [email protected], 

Julian, DCJ, +306941437285, [email protected]

X: @gcdcj 

COP29

DCJ PRESS RELEASE: The Great Escape II – Baku ‘Finance COP’ Edition 


The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) 

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 22 NOV 24 – While much of the focus of COP29 in Baku rightfully centres debates over the quantum and quality of any New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), very little attention is being given to what could be the true legacy of Baku: the deliberate dismantling of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement structures for any legal accountability of developed countries to provide finance and technology to developing countries. 

Paris in 2015 was the site of the first Great Escape from any accountability for greenhouse gas emissions by establishing the bottom-up system of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that almost a decade later has left the world drifting dangerously off course from limiting warming to 1.5C and instead hurtling toward 3-4C.  

Climate justice advocates warn COP29 could culminate a decade-long effort to consolidate freedom for countries who got rich first by burning fossil fuels from their climate finance obligations: the Great Escape II.

Join us, as members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice break down the details of the ways in which this escape has been cleverly engineered by both subtle diplomacy and brutish bullying of the Global North countries.

“Developed countries get rich because of colonisation, not because they were smart. We only have gigatons left to do this in a time window of eight years. The global north doesn’t want any mention to the Convention, hence, nothing legally binding. The Paris Agreement says that parties must enhance the implementation of the Convention. Do they not speak English? The Net-Zero for developed countries is a complete fraud that will not limit temperatures for the 1.5°C goal. Developing countries are saying: We might be in a football stadium, but we cannot afford to play games. The Great Escape means do not let them escape again. Stop fooling us. Enough is enough.”

Meena Raman, Third World Network

“A ‘Finance COP’ means learning from past mistakes dating Copenhagen back 2009, and we are at the very last day of COP29 concluding three years of negotiations and we know that we are very far from where we should be. We need a large goal of finance that is public and with grants, and it can’t be based on all the false solutions composed of climate markets and green bonds. The question is how developed countries will pay up without turning the responsibility to the private sector. It is unacceptable that on the last day of the COP we do not have a quantum on the table. If we get a weak deal, it is the developed countries’ fault.”

Mariana Paoli, Christian Aid

“We’re deeply frustrated with the outcomes of COP29 so far, particularly for the Global South. The developed countries promise but never deliver, they challenge our intelligence by fulfilling the text with carbon markets schemes and other kind of green finance that will transform into a bunch of new climate debts.  

Without an expressive goal in climate finance, we will not be able to achieve the Just Transition foremost in the next COP in Belem. The climate crisis is already facing the livelihoods of the peoples and their territories in the cities, rural areas, waters and forests. The Brazilian presidency at the next COP will have a huge challenge to put back in the tracks the Paris Agreement climate finance if Baku fails and be able to dialogue and support the Peoples’ Summit towards COP30 as an autonomous, popular space of civil society and that will take Belem streets.” 

Maureen Santos, FASE

“For nearly 30 years, the global south communities have been fighting to hold the rich countries accountable for the climate crisis they have brought to our doors. Just like in Paris when developed countries escaped their responsibility that has left the world drifting dangerously off course and hurtling toward 3-4C, they are doing it again at COP29 by escaping form their financial obligations. We want the developed countries and everyone who is responsible for the climate induced devastation back at home that we will not accept any NCQG outcome that does not deliver on our demands for grants based, public finance for the global south.”

Rachitaa Gupta, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

COP29

Action: The Price of Injustice – Measuring Climate Finance, Grain by Grain

MEDIA ADVISORY

Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) 

As COP29 draws to a close, an action in the form of a temporary art installation, “The Price of Injustice – Measuring Climate Finance, Grain by Grain,” will showcase the immense disparity in climate finance delivery by the rich countries and the actual needs of the global south. Using grains of rice, a crop that is at the heart of Global-South food and agriculture, as a powerful visual metaphor, the installation vividly illustrates the immense inequalities in climate finance commitments, fossil fuel subsidies, and reparations owed to the Global South.

This action by Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice is to demonstrate the lies and manipulation of the rich countries to continue extracting trillions from the developing countries to support their colonial regime.

Join member of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice as they demonstrate why the Global-South continues to stand up to the Northern government to ensure a just and equitabole future. 

When: November 22nd, Friday | 09:00 hs (Baku)

Where: Location 3  

Visuals and Interviews:

  • Striking displays of rice quantities highlighting the scale of disparities.
  • Climate justice advocates and creators of the installation will be available for interviews to provide insights into the messages behind the art.
  • Photo and Media Opportunities:
  • Media attendees will have the opportunity to capture visuals of the installation, interact with the creators, and engage with activists demanding climate justice.

Contact Us 

Esthappen, +919820918910, [email protected] 

Julian, +306941437285, [email protected]

COP29

Activists Demand US$5 Trillion in Real Climate Finance

WHAT: Global activists from all constituencies are coming together to call out the current text for its empty ambition and failing the Global South that faces an imminent threat from climate collapse. The message is clear: Global North must pay up now!  There will also be speeches. Spokespeople available. Media huddle to follow: 

WHEN: Saturday, November 22, 2024, 13:00hs Baku time (UTC+4)

WHERE: Zone 7 in fron t of the Caspian Plenary, COP29 Blue Zone

SPEAKERS:

  • Lidy Nacpil, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justicent (DCJ) 
  • Meena Raman, Lawyer, Third World Network / DCJ
  • Liane Schalatek, Women and Gender Constituency
  • Jeremy Anderson,  Director of Just Transition and Sustainable Transport, International Transport Workers’​ Federation (ITF)
  • Rebecca Thissen, Global Advocacy Lead, Climate Action Network International

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Isabel Rodrigo | Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development | +63 926 734 5712 | [email protected]

Esthappen S | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | +919820918910 | [email protected]

Attila Kulcsár | Climate Action Network International | +44 7472 124872 | [email protected]

COP29

COP29 Press Conference: The Great Escape II – Baku ‘Finance COP’ Edition 

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) 

While much of the focus of COP29 in Baku rightfully centers debates over the quantum and quality of any New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), very little attention is being given to what could be the true legacy of Baku: the deliberate dismantling of the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement structures for any legal accountability of developed countries to provide finance and technology to developing countries. 

Paris in 2015 was the site of the first Great Escape from any accountability for greenhouse gas emissions by establishing the bottom-up system of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that almost a decade later has left the world drifting dangerously off course from limiting warming to 1.5C and instead hurtling toward 3-4C.  

Climate justice advocates warn COP29 could culminate a decade-long effort to consolidate freedom for countries who got rich first by burning fossil fuels from their climate finance obligations: the Great Escape II.

Join us, as members of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice break down the details of the ways in which this escape has been cleverly engineered by both subtle diplomacy and brutish bullying of the Global North countries.

When: Friday, 22 November | 10:30am

Where: Press Conference – Natavan, Area D / WATCH LIVE

Who:

  • Meena Raman, Third World Network
  • Mariana Paoli, Christian Aid
  • Maureen Santos, FASE
  • Moderator: Rachitaa Gupta, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

COP29

Quotes from the People’s Plenary at COP29

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, November 21, 2024

[PHOTO]

Credit: Bianka Csenki / The Artivist Network

Baku, Azerbaijan—Today, hundreds of climate activists took over COP29’s plenary hall and hallways to hold a People’s Plenary.

Photos available to download here.

QUOTES:

Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International: “The People’s Plenary at COP29 is a powerful reminder that the true power in the climate crisis lies not with the diplomats in their VIP rooms, but with the people. While governments continue to stall and manipulate, it is the voices of communities on the frontlines, grassroots activists, and youth leaders that are driving the conversation. This plenary is a declaration that people have always held the power to change the course of history.“

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development: “As we reach the finish line of COP29, we are escalating our demands for climate justice and reaffirming our unwavering solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world. We are calling on Global South governments at COP29 to stand firm, hold fast, and fight for our right to climate reparations. The people of the Global South are owed nothing less than $5 trillion a year in public, grant-based climate finance. While the governments of the Global North delay and deflect, the people of the Global South are dying. The Global North must acknowledge its historical responsibility for the climate catastrophe and pay up.”

Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want: “As COP29 draws to a close, the very future of humanity and our planet hangs in the balance. Arsonists who burn down people’s homes cannot simply walk away from the flames and leave the victims to rebuild on their own. It’s time for an end to the hollow words from the USA, UK and European countries about keeping 1.5C alive, respecting human rights and standing with the most vulnerable countries. They must stop burning down the planet, cut their own carbon pollution, and pay up for the damage they have caused. Claiming empty coffers whilst funding the bombs dropping on Gaza and giving hand outs to fossil fuel giants to expand their own oil and gas whilst pointing the finger at others fools no one. Taxing the rich and making big business pay their taxes would raise trillions in public finance. When rich countries burn down the international rules-based system to give impunity to Israel’s genocide, when they refuse to stop funding and fuelling genocide, they are sending a very clear message to countries in the Global South, that in their eyes the lives of black and brown people have less value than others.”

Harjeet Singh, global engagement director of Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, said: “We approached this COP with the expectation that developed nations would acknowledge their historical responsibility for the climate crisis and show the political will to address it by committing substantial sums under the new climate finance goal. Instead, what we are witnessing are diversionary tactics and a glaring lack of commitment to mobilize the finance needed to confront the scale of this crisis. For many of us from climate-vulnerable developing nations, this COP is make-or-break. Its failure to deliver will starkly reveal the world’s true stance on our plight.

“We must stand united, unwavering in the people’s demand for climate finance, because we hold the power to drive change. As momentum grows around the calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, we urge more nations to join those championing this treaty and commit to a legally binding mechanism to ensure an equitable global transition away from fossil fuels.”

Eduardo Giesen, regional coordinator of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice: “COP29 is proving once again that the UNFCCC is not a space to achieve climate justice. On the one hand, the governments of rich countries defend their status as global political and economic power and the interests of large corporations, while financing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza. And a large part of the governments of the Global South cling to the model of political and economic dependence, promoting false solutions such as carbon markets. The peoples of the Global South, especially those of Latin America, must build our own agenda and political projects to overcome dependence and the climate crisis. The People’s Summit in Belem will be a milestone on that path.”

Carolina Muturi, coordinator of IBON Africa: “Africa has long been the exploited engine of global wealth–its lands, resources, and peoples drained to fuel the prosperity of rich countries in the global North, leaving us vulnerable to the worsening impacts of climate change. At COP29, we were promised financing to address this crisis. Yet, we are met with hollow promises and false ‘solutions’ like carbon markets that perpetuate the cycles of colonial plunder of Africa. Carbon finance is not climate finance; what the global North needs to do is pay the climate debt they owe to the African peoples and to all Southern peoples. COP29 must not be another stage for empty rhetoric. It must deliver on our demand for reparations. We deserve nothing less.”

Nada Elbohi of the Women and Gender Constituency: As leaders in climate action, women and girls in all their diversity are not inherently vulnerable, but made so through intentional structural barriers and systems of oppression that disenable us. Unless COP29 holds accountable the perpetrators and polluters who cultivate and benefit from inequalities, we will keep spinning the wheel of patriarchy, capitalism, militarization, extractivism, and colonialism. These are the same interconnected systems of injustices that have driven and continue to perpetuate the climate crisis. System change with gender rights at the heart must be the way forward.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES HERE.

[PHOTO]

Photos available to download here. Free to use with attribution to Bianka Csenki / The Artivist Network

Media contacts: 

Attila Kulcsar | Climate Action Network | [email protected] 

Esthappen | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | estha.dcj@gmail.com | +306941437285

Isabel Rodrigo | Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development | [email protected] | +63 926 734 5712

COP29

DCJ PRESS RELEASE: Who’s Blocking a Breakthrough in Baku?

The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice (DCJ) 

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN, 21 NOV 24 – Due to electoral losses and collapsing coalitions in key governments of the Global North, they have arrived in Baku with no money or mandates for the so-called Finance COP, the COP29. Posturing for political points back home, the US and the EU are once again accusing the Global South of blocking progress, while attempting to divide G77+China unity that is standing strong for a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG). 

Developed countries and their mainstream media blame developing countries for “blocking” progress in the transition from fossil fuels, yet it is the very climate finance developed countries have failed to deliver that is needed to enable more ambitious cuts in emissions by developing countries.

Our warming world needs a fresh breeze of Caspian air for a big breakthrough in Baku but it seems set for a breakdown. 

“We’re heading to the end of COP, and the balance is not on our side. Who are the arsonists who burned down our homes and then walked away from the flames? If the UK wants to show leadership, it will have to decarbonise by 2030 and provide 1 trillion in finance to be on track with its historical responsibilities. We need serious NDCs: the Global South cannot continue to develop the Global North. As COP29 draws to a close, the very future of humanity and our planet hangs in the balance. It’s time for an end to the hollow words from the USA, UK, and European countries about keeping 1.5°C alive, respecting human rights, and standing with the most vulnerable countries. Instead of claiming empty coffers while funding bombs for Gaza and handing out billions to fossil fuel giants, these countries must cut their carbon pollution, pay for the damage they’ve caused, and stop burning down the planet.”

Asad Rehman, War on Want

“Instead of taking responsibility for its actions, the EU refuses to pay up. Private money is not the answer: companies will always prioritise profit over people. Developing countries cannot increase their ambitions if they do not receive their fair share. Pay up and face responsibility.”

Nine de Pater, Friend of the Earth Netherlands

“The new text has no number on the NCQG and we’re two days away from the end of the COP. There’s nothing concrete from developed countries, they are not serious. The US has not delivered anything close to its fair share of climate finance. The developed countries must negotiate with good faith – not try to water down the very same obligations they’ve failed to meet. Stop distracting from their failure with issues like private finance and bullying China into paying.”

Brandon Wu, ActionAid  USA

“Developed countries are gaslighting the developing world on fossil fuels by claiming that they want a phaseout but continuing to expand oil and gas production and exports. Just 5 countries – the US, Canada, Norway, Australia, and UK – are responsible for 51% of planned oil and gas expansion through 2050. Global North hypocrisy and a lack of commitments on finance are the primary reasons for lack of movement on mitigation.”

Collin Rees, Oil Change International

“It has been nearly 30 years since we have been coming to COP asking rich countries to pay up for their historical responsibility. To pay up for this crisis they have brought to our doors. We want climate finance in trillions as reparations to historic harm caused to our lands, resources and our peoples and we want it in public grants and not through neo-colonial frameworks disguised as investment plans, loans and false solutions like carbon markets, nature swaps and green bonds. We all know money is there. The rich countries are just choosing to fund war, conflict and genocide instead of climate action.”

Rachitaa Gupta, Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice

COP29

Climate Activists at COP29 Hold People’s Plenary as Final Week Comes to a Close

MEDIA ADVISORY 

WHEN: Thursday, November 21, 3:30-5:30 PM Baku time (UTC+4)

WHERE: Caspian Plenary Hall, Area D, Blue Zone. Spokespeople will be available for interviews nearby.

WHAT: As COP29 negotiations wrap up, hundreds of activists will reaffirm their commitment to building a better world by holding a People’s Plenary, where their chants, demands, and stories of struggle will be heard. Members of civil society will hold a program inside the hall before staging a silent march in the hallways of Area D.

WHO: Hundreds of activists from the rights-based UNFCCC constituencies and civil society groups from across the world.

Spokespeople will be available for interviews after the action.

Photos will also be sent out after this event.

About the Organizers

This action is being organized by a cross-constituency of climate groups. For specific questions and to get in touch for interviews, email [email protected]

CONTACTS:

Attila Kulcsar | Climate Action Network | [email protected] 

Esthappen S | Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice | [email protected] | +919820918910

Isabel Rodrigo | Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development | [email protected] | +63 926 734 5712