Al Jaber calls on G20 to double climate risk finance

• Cop28 president says money needed now, not in five years’ time
• Plea for increase in ‘adaptation finance’ for threatened communities
• Accessible funding key to delivering ‘truly ambitious agenda’

Cop28 president Sultan Al Jaber and United Nations climate executive secretary Simon Stiell urged the G20 this week to increase funding known as “adaptation finance”, for communities at risk of facing climate change-related hazards. 

“The G20 must affirm its commitment to [mobilising] the fund and funding arrangements. Those at the frontline of climate change need our support now, not in five years’ time,” said a joint statement from Al Jaber and Stiell.

They were speaking on the sidelines of the G20 ministerial meeting in Chennai, India, on Thursday, where they called on participating nations to work together on a strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change at the Cop28 conference later this year. 

“Whether we can deliver on a truly ambitious agenda that fills the gaps to 2030 will depend on our ability to make climate finance available, affordable and accessible to developing countries,” Al Jaber and Stiell’s statement said. 

“Climate finance arrangements will need to be transformed to deliver at the necessary scale, to work better as a system and to support private finance mobilisation at unprecedented levels.”

Commitments already made – including the UN’s annual $100 billion pledge for developing countries, due to expire in 2025 – must be delivered on, and adaptation finance doubled from current levels, the statement added. 

“G20 countries must also demonstrate leadership in actively aligning financial flows to the Paris Agreement through the multilateral development banks and other avenues,” the leaders said. 

Cop28 is being held in Dubai from November 30 until December 12.

As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, Cop28 UAE will deliver the first ever global stocktake – a comprehensive evaluation of progress made against carbon reduction goals. 

The G20 is a forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union.