Countries at COP29 urged to invest trillions to cope with climate change

Report urges $6.5 trillion annual investment in climate action by 2030 to meet targets and avoid future costs.

Countries need to invest more than $6 trillion per year by 2030 to tackle the effects of climate change or risk having to pay more in the future, according to report by an independent panel of experts at a United Nations climate summit.

“Investments in all areas of climate action must increase across all economies,” said the report published on Thursday by the Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance (IHLEG) at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The experts put the figure at $6.5 trillion to meet climate targets in advanced economies, as well as China and developing countries, and said any shortfall “will place added pressure on the years that follow, creating a steeper and potentially more costly path to climate stability”.

Climate finance is a central focus of the summit, whose success is likely to be judged on whether nations can agree to a new target for how much richer nations, development lenders and the private sector must provide each year to developing countries to finance climate action.

A previous goal of $100bn per year, which expires in 2025, was met two years late in 2022, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said earlier this year, although much of it was in the form of loans rather than grants, something recipient countries say needs to change.