‘Too slow and too siloed’: Business giants call for nations to meet Paris Agreement financing commitments

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As part of a new briefing paper from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), the business coalition has urged countries to increase action and ambition in order to deliver the aims of the Paris Agreement.

With COP27 set to commence next week, the businesses note that “what is decided in Sharm El-Sheikh sets the tone and pace for next year’s summit and prepares the ground for the roadmap for 2030 and beyond”.

Specifically, businesses are calling for developed nations to meet commitments to mobilise trillions of dollars in capital to help poorer countries respond to the climate crisis and decarbonise.

Just before COP26, the governments of the UK, Germany and Canada forecast that the historic commitment for developed nations to provide $100bn of climate finance annually to developing nations would not be met that year, with 2023 being the first year the full amount was paid.

Developing nations had been urging measures the fill the historic shortfall. Instead, the Glasgow Climate Pace – created at COP26 –  “urges” developed countries to “fully deliver” the $100bn goal through to 2025, with an emphasis on transparency and reporting mechanisms to outline how they are financing this transition.

Businesses are also calling on nations to focus on adaptation mechanisms to enable communities to respond to a changing climate, setting strong targets to close an “ambition gap” in some areas of the Paris Agreement and to accelerate efforts to transition to renewables and achieve net-zero while protecting and restoring nature.

The businesses have issued the call as nations gear up for the two-week climate summit in Egypt, warning that “change is too slow and siloed”.

CISL’s director Clare Shine said: “We have entered a time of interlinked and converging polycrises. The consequences of acting too slowly for climate and nature are impacting every continent and threaten human security. Climate-related catastrophes are now frequent and ferocious, with millions of people losing their homes, family units and communities, and livelihoods. Too many have already lost their lives.

“If wealthy countries were trying to look away before, the setting for this year’s COP – bordering the hunger crisis in East Africa, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine affecting Egyptian food security – puts the realities of climate and conflict risks squarely in the frame. Nowhere on the planet feels the impact of climate change more than Africa. It is time to rebuild trust between those nations most responsible for climate change and those whose people and economies are most vulnerable.

“COP27 will be tough because leaders must tackle some of the biggest problems ever faced. But the time is now. Deep collaboration and radical openness across countries and economic actors, with skilled negotiation and communication, can turn the current raft of commitments into meaningful action.”