COP29 missed the mark in responding to the needs of developing countries

Views from Climate Action Network and other CSOs

A very bad deal has been passed for people and the planet and as CAN, we will reject the outcome. We are not defeated; we will fight back home, fight in Brazil and we will fix it in Brazil. In Baku, developed countries tried to avoid their legal obligations and undermine the Climate Convention, but next month, we have the hearings on the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, which will clarify the legal obligations of states under multiple bodies of law in the context of climate change.

Developed countries are to blame as well as the influence of the fossil fuel industry. Developed countries have used the US election outcome as an excuse to hide behind. The US has been trying to dismantle the Convention and the Paris Agreement for years, Trump or no Trump. The Paris Agreement is the only process where smaller countries have a footing to take a stand – we saw the process in action this time with LDCs and island states forcing a discussion on their priorities.

The multilateral process has not failed; it is the developed countries in the process that have failed and they have been trying to dismantle the process for decades. Governments agreed that with the Paris Agreement came the promise of finance, but when the time came to pay up, developed countries shirked their responsibility. We saw it with the $100billion and we have seen it again with the new climate finance goal, which if you account for inflation until 2035 would be an even worse goal than the $100billion. The figure for the climate finance goal is wholly inadequate, the quality of finance is missing with no equity or justice reflected in the text, and the direction of finance from developed to developing countries did not come through. The goal completely missed the mark in responding to the needs of developing countries, nor did it cover the obligations of the developed ones.

In the end, we saw the same story play out, with developing countries being left little choice in carrying the massive weight of the developed world’s historic responsibilities. In week one, we saw no commitments to the Loss and Damage fund or to Adaptation. Loss and damage have been watered down, signalling the absence of intent by developed countries to own up to their obligations. We also saw a bad outcome on Carbon Markets on day one, which was adopted on the final day with problematic rules.

Two years of progress on Just Transition, where Parties were starting to shape a common vision, were trashed due to bad processes, showing dismay for the millions of people concerned about their lives, jobs, and livelihoods. In COP29, justice was not served on any front.  Across the board, there has been pushback on human rights and gender. Human rights are under attack all over the world, not just in Azerbaijan. Everything has been limited here in the conference centre, access, civic space, etc.

The onus is on developed countries to phase out fossil fuels and have ambitious NDCs since they didn’t open their wallets here in Baku on the climate finance goal. This is also an obligation of theirs. The COP29 Presidency has shown its inexperience in diplomacy and consensus building, and that has aided this terrible outcome. Knowingly or not, the presidency has acted as an accomplice in the developed countries’ attempt to evade their responsibilities and obligations.

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, WWF Global Climate and Energy Lead, and former environment minister and COP20 President, said: “The world has been let down by this weak climate finance deal. At this pivotal moment for the planet, this failure threatens to set back global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. And it risks leaving vulnerable communities exposed to an onslaught of escalating climate catastrophes. This is a serious blow to climate action, but it must not stall the transformative changes that are needed around the world. The science remains the same – we must accelerate action in this decade to prevent climate change spiralling out of control. All national and corporate leaders have a responsibility to step up, go beyond the parameters of this deal, and deliver sufficient levels of finance to deliver the solutions needed around the world. This must not hold us back. We need to invest in our collective future.”

Harjeet Singh, Global Engagement Director, Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative, “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.”

Mariana Paoli, Global Advocacy Lead, Christian Aid said: “People of the global south came to these talks needing a lifeboat out of the climate crisis. But all they got thrown was a plank of wood to cling to.

“This summit has been hijacked by rich countries who have failed to negotiate in good faith. The cost of their actions here will be paid in the lives of vulnerable people living on the front lines of the climate crisis”

Namrata Chowdhary, Head of Public Engagement at 350.org said: “Once again, inequity has driven a hard bargain that the vulnerable have no choice but to accept. Rich countries have failed to honour their responsibilities, and shown up with rigid unwillingness to meet this moment with the ambition required to address the climate crisis. As this disappointing deal gets pushed through, we stand in solidarity with those most impacted by both – a crisis they did not cause, and a result they could not really influence. This deal failed to meet the ambition needed, but hope and ambition are alive and well in the climate movement. We are already preparing to build new momentum in the global movement for climate justice, with a wave of campaigns ahead, focussed on real solutions to the climate crisis.”

Nikki Reisch, CIEL’s Director of Climate & Energy Program, said: “COP29 will go down in history as an embarrassment and one in which Global North countries once again showed their true colors. Countries cannot negotiate away their legal duties or outsource them to the private sector by turning climate action into a business opportunity. They must pay up and phase out: that means immediately halting the expansion of oil and gas and providing the climate finance required to ensure a global transition away from fossil fuels and protect the rights of those on the frontlines of ever-escalating climate harms. As long as wealthy polluting nations keep shirking their responsibility to prevent further climate catastrophe and remedy mounting climate harms, courts, and civil society movements will keep holding them to account.”

Fidelis Stehle, President FIMCAP Europe, FIMCAP (Youth), “For the most vulnerable and most affected the result is far too little. You could call it a slap in the face, especially for young people who are standing up for solidarity, climate justice, and their future. It means a further step away from the Paris 1.5-degree limit and thus more human suffering and climate death. 300 billion is a bad inflation adjustment, not what is needed according to scientific needs, and anything but not a success. The EU must stop hiding behind the US to avoid further bad deals now or never and finally take responsibility and climate action on the road to COP30 in Brazil.”

Matilde Angeltveit, Climate Policy Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid, “Developed countries have been shamefully unwilling to listen to the science and commit to a needs-based climate finance goal. Throughout three years of negotiations, they have refused to talk openly about what they are willing to provide, jeopardising the Paris Agreement to avoid taking responsibility and paying their fair share. Rich countries can’t compromise with science, they need to provide their fair share of at least 1tn dollars in climate grants to developing countries annually.”

Kelly Dent, Global Director of External Engagement, World Animal Protection, “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, which hold the key to our planet’s survival, are left behind, while destructive industries like factory farming are allowed to flourish. Belem will be a defining moment—the world is watching, and it demands courage, ambition, and accountability.

Salomé Lehtman, Advocacy Advisor, Mercy Corps said, “The NCQG agreed at COP29 is a catastrophic failure and a devastating blow to global climate action. The climate finance goal is woefully inadequate, unjust, and a stark betrayal of the vulnerable nations already suffering the brunt from the crisis they did not cause.

Offering a mere $300 billion annually by 2035—equivalent to roughly $175 billion in today’s terms, mostly in the form of loans, and with no inclusion of loss & damage—is a profound affront to the billions of people whose lives and futures hang in the balance.

The EU’s lack of leadership and vision is particularly disappointing. Once seen as a climate champion, the EU has failed to push for bold action and bridge divides thereby undermining progress when the world needed it most. This summit should have been a turning point. Instead, it has left us with hollow words from rich countries, broken promises, and growing distrust. The inaction displayed at COP29 will cost lives and destroy livelihoods. This is not just disappointment – it is unforgivable negligence.”

Jasper Inventor, Head of Delegation, Greenpeace International, said: “The agreed finance goal is woefully inadequate and overshadowed by the level of despair and scale of action needed. The best and worst of multilateralism saw isolated blockers and difficult talks stymie change before a deal was brokered at the death knell. Our true opponents are the fossil fuel merchants of despair and reckless nature destroyers who hide snugly behind every government’s low climate ambition. Their lobbyists must be disallowed and leaders need to summon the courage to get on the right side of history. People are fed up and disillusioned, but we’ll persist and resist because this is a fight for our future! As we look to COP30 in Belem, we must hold on to hope – hope that is firmly anchored on people demanding climate ambition.”

Chiara Martinelli, Director, of Climate Action Network Europe, said: “Rich countries own the responsibility for the failed outcome at COP29. The talk of tripling from the $100 billion goal might sound impressive, but in reality, it falls far short, barely increasing from the previous commitment when adjusted for inflation and considering the bulk of this money will come in the form of unsustainable loans. This is not solidarity. It’s smoke and mirrors that betray the needs of those on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Despite promises of leadership, the EU has shown a troubling lack of action and ambition, undermining trust and progress when it was needed most. The voices of the most vulnerable have been sidelined, human rights and civil society participation ignored, and accountability swept under the rug. The package on mitigation, adaptation, and finance fails to deliver on the promises of the Paris Agreement and leaves the most vulnerable to pay the price for this inaction.”

Dr. Rachel Cleetus, Policy Manager for the Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “Rich nations, including the United States and E.U. countries, have exercised brute power here at COP29 to force a deeply unfair and inadequate climate finance outcome that puts at peril the science-based goals of the Paris climate agreement. Despite their starring role in causing the climate crisis, this wealthy coalition of the unwilling collectively offered a grossly insufficient $300 billion annually by 2035, with a weak provision to review in five years and numerous loopholes to evade responsibility for ensuring the majority is grant-based public finance.

This is nowhere near what lower-income nations need to quickly transition away from fossil fuels to clean energy and protect people from the ravages of the climate crisis they’re enduring. By reneging on their climate finance responsibility and continuing to boost fossil fuel interests, richer countries are stymying the world’s ability to cut heat-trapping emissions quickly and unjustly foisting the costs of deadly climate extremes onto those who have contributed the least to the problem.”

Kathy Mulvey, Accountability Campaign Director for the Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, said, “Fossil fuel interests permeated COP29, and their push to maintain massive profits from oil and gas showed in the flawed outcome. Saudi Arabia, for example, employed strongarm tactics to undermine last year’s UAE consensus to transition away from fossil fuels and reportedly may have interfered with the official negotiating text. Meanwhile, the United States and other countries whose wealth derives from a fossil fuel-based economy failed to come through with sufficient funding to support low-income nations in the transition to clean energy.

In addition to powerful nations representing their interests, nearly 1,800 lobbyists from the industry primarily responsible for driving destructive and deadly climate change were granted access to the COP29 venue, overwhelming the delegation of almost every country, especially those from the most climate-vulnerable nations. It’s time for the COP parties to grow a backbone and kick big polluters out once and for all.”

Laurie van der Burg, Global Public Finance Campaign Manager, Oil Change International said, “The $300 billion climate finance offer in 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.”

Javier Andaluz Prieto, Head of Climate and Energy, Ecologistas en Acción: “Es inaceptable que mientras la UE exija a los países del Sur Global reducir las emisiones, ellos se escudan y amparan a EE.UU, y lo que es aún peor, se alía con las empresas causantes de la crisis climática ofreciéndolas dinero público para ser contabilizadas en el nuevo objetivo global de financiación. Hemos venido a esta cumbre a defender las reparaciones climáticas e históricas, y en lugar de ver como los países aplican sus herramientas fiscales, aplicando el principio de quien contamina paga y una mayor fiscalidad a la riqueza y a la destrucción del planeta, vemos como dinamitan cualquier credibilidad y abandonan cualquier intención de ser solidarias con los millones de personas que ya están sufriendo las consecuencias de la emergencia climática.”

‘It is unacceptable that while the EU demands the countries of the Global South to reduce their emissions, they shield and protect the US, and worse still, ally themselves with the companies causing the climate crisis by offering them public money to be factored into the new global finance target. We came to this summit to defend climate and historical reparations, and instead of seeing countries apply their fiscal tools, applying the polluter pays principle and higher taxation to wealth and the destruction of the planet, we see them undermine any credibility and abandon any intention to show solidarity with the millions of people already suffering the consequences of the climate emergency.

Elise Åsnes, President, Spire: This is a dark day for the global fight against climate change. Wealthy nations like Norway, which have grown rich by fueling the climate crisis, owe the world at least 1 trillion dollars in climate finance annually. Today, the world failed to deliver. Rich countries must contribute significantly more to climate finance. Anything less is a betrayal”

Francisco Ferreira, President, ZERO (Portugal) said, “In a world, including the Iberian Peninsula, where the consequences of climate change are increasingly more visible and dramatic for people and nature, the next generations will ask us how we could not mobilise the political will and the necessary financial resources to avoid more damage and abandon a fossil fuels based economy to support the most vulnerable.”

Alison Doig, Clean Energy Campaign Manager, Recourse, said, “The increased dependence on multilateral development banks to deliver climate finance, agreed at COP29, is a diversion that will enable private sector profit-making out of the climate crisis and allow developed countries to dodge accountability. Development banks are still promoting fossil fuels in climate-vulnerable countries, offering mostly debt-distressing loans, and cannot effectively deliver on adaptation or loss and damage, meaning that this outcome is set to take climate finance even further away from the people who need it the most.”

Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Boell Foundation Washington, DC, said: “The new finance goal is a failure and a step backward. Its annual 300 billion USD by 2035 goal and a 1.3 trillion nebulous investment promise are inadequate in both quantity and quality and ignore the needs of developing countries and their people and communities. It allows developed countries as historic polluters to dodge and obfuscate their obligation to provide public support to developing countries as a climate debt owed. It does not include finance for addressing loss and damage, establishes no minimum allocation floor for the most vulnerable countries, and fails to include commitments for increasing grant-based direct access for marginalized and affected communities, including women and girls in all of their diversity and Indigenous Peoples. Instead of providing the financial ratcheting-up mechanism for more climate ambition in developing countries, with new national climate plans due next year, this outcome further undermines trust and cancels the grand bargain that was the Paris Agreement. This puts the multilateral climate regime in danger when we need solidarity and collective climate action more than ever.”

Gerry Arances, Executive Director, Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), Philippines, said, “The NCQG text pretends to address the crisis – but let’s call it what it is: too little, too late. The message from wealthy nations is clear: their profits from fossil fuels matter more than the lives of those drowning, starving, or fleeing their homes due to climate disasters. The NCQG was supposed to deliver justice. Instead, it’s a hollow promise, sabotaged by those who refuse to pay their climate debt.
This isn’t diplomacy – it’s betrayal. The failure of wealthy countries to deliver funding commitments at COP29 is a direct attack on vulnerable countries. Developed nations must stop the excuses, pay their climate debt, and phase out fossil fuels – anything less is a death sentence for the world’s most vulnerable.”

Maria Hammer, Campaigner, Südwind said, “From a global justice perspective, this climate conference was a farce. The outcome largely absolves the wealthy nations of the Global North from their responsibilities. Human rights, gender justice, and support for the most affected communities were nothing more than a footnote and received little to no mention in the final declaration. This outcome must serve as a warning and a call to action for the responsible countries in the Global North to advance climate justice at all levels, with the goal of establishing just and needs-based climate finance for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage by 2025.”

Martin Krenn, Spokesperson of the Austrian Alliance for Climate Justice, said: “Parties were hardly able to agree on a support target of 300 billion US dollars per year by 2035 but this does not even double current efforts in real terms. It is nowhere near enough to ensure even the most necessary life-saving adaptation measures in the poorest countries of the Global South. This is a setback for the development of new NDCs, ignores the need for reliable Loss and Damage finance and exacerbates the debt crisis in many countries of the Global South.

Marte Hansen Haugan, President, Changemaker Norway, said: “The outcome reflects the Global North’s complete negligence of their historical responsibility towards the Global South. It’s like standing on shore and refusing to throw a lifebuoy to someone who is drowning, says Marte Hansen Haugan, President of Changemaker Norway. “But with the climate crisis, you reap what you saw. The consequences of this will undoubtedly also be negative for industrialized countries,” she adds.

Jonathan Crook, Policy Lead on global carbon markets, Carbon Market Watch said,   “Countries yet again adopted a loose and lackluster carbon market package. Day 1 saw the Presidency controversially approve the first part of Article 6.4 rules, without adequate consultation, that is set to repeat the well-documented permanence flaws of carbon credits on the voluntary carbon market. Article 6.2 was also largely gutted of ambition by some countries intent on scaling up an opaque and consequence-free framework for governmental trade of credits. Transparency on trades has only minimally improved, while the last opportunity to strengthen the critically weak review process has been missed. Unacceptably, countries are free to trade carbon credits that are of low quality, or even fail to comply with Article 6.2 rules, without real oversight.”

Pegah Moulana, Secretary General of Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) said: The latest NCQG decision at COP29 starkly highlights the unwillingness of developed and oil-rich nations to take responsibility for their historical and substantial emissions. By failing to provide concrete support to the most affected states and neglecting to establish a robust protocol to ensure these nations remain debt-free during implementation, the decision exacerbates climate injustice. It is urgently necessary to restructure the UNFCCC decision-making processes to prioritise and protect those who are already suffering the most from climate change. Without these critical changes, we will continue to leave behind the very communities that are bearing the greatest burden of this global crisis.

Tom Athanasiou, Director, EcoEquity. Authoritarian governments can create illusions, like the illusion that there was meaningful agreement at the Baku COP. Political reality, like scientific reality, is a different matter, and the political reality here is that “we” have agreed to a text that requires almost nothing – except words — from the world’s elites. The result will be more despair and alienation, and in their face it would be good to remember the economic reality – there is actually a great deal of money in the world, more than enough to support a fair and rapid global climate transition. The problem is that most of this money is controlled by wealthy, self-interested elites. This is going to have to change, and soon.

Paul Jenkinson, President of European Young Engineers President (EYE) said: The financial quantum and mechanisms in the current NCQG decision fundamentally undermine the urgent warnings of science. This COP was supposed to deliver the climate financing necessary to keep us on track with the IPCC’s recommendations, particularly for the global south. Instead, it offers loopholes and insufficient commitments, jeopardising the 1.5°C target. We urgently call for the recognition of scientific evidence in policymaking and demand that developed countries step up to accept their responsibilities for real climate action.

Ben Goloff, senior climate campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity: “The gap between this climate finance commitment and what’s needed is so big you could see it from space. It’s richly ironic that the United States and other wealthy, polluting nations can come up with funds for almost anything except helping poor countries cope with the climate chaos they’ve caused. Kicking the deadline to 2035 adds insult to the injury of a paltry $300 billion, a fraction of the trillions needed. The Biden administration should be going out with at least a signal of its moral climate commitment, not copping out ahead of the Trump 2.0 disaster.”

Julie Rødje, Director, Debt Justice Norway said, This is a step back from the goal made in 2009. By counting a broader variety of sources of lesser quality mainly focusing on loans and mobilised private capital, the very low number of $300 bn isn’t even real money which shall be provided. This happens at the same time as countries already are facing huge losses and damages due to the climate crisis and have record-high sovereign debt levels. Rich countries are sending the bill for their emissions to countries in the global South by not providing new additional grant-based finance.”

Marlene Achoki, Global Climate Policy Lead, CARE International, said: “Once again, the most vulnerable are left to pay the price of the impacts of climate change, while developed countries shirk their obligations to the world’s poorest. The finance COP has failed to meet developing countries’ climate needs, offering a fraction of the trillions needed and neglecting quality aspects. The decision provides no guarantee of grants or highly concessional funding, but relying heavily on Multilateral Development Bank loans that increase debt burdens. Developed nations prioritise short-term interests, ignoring their role in the climate crisis. This failure to deliver adequate climate finance is a failure of justice: deeply troubling and concerning.”

Ilan Zugman, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at 350.org said: “Our calls to adequately fund climate action were met with a bare minimum pledge. Our demands for rich countries and polluters to pay up were reduced to a bargaining chip. We’re tired of seeing profits and national interests put before the safety of people and the planet. A silver lining is that countries have recognized the target as a starting point, and have committed to a roadmap for mobilizing additional funding. As Brazil takes on the COP presidency it’s a chance to course correct. Brazil must show climate leadership by calling for countries to submit ambitious national climate goals (NDCs) that lead us to a fossil fuel phase-out and towards a just renewable energy transition.”

Nafkote Dabi, Climate Change Policy Lead, Oxfam International, said: “The terrible verdict from the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries view the Global South as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard. This so-called ‘deal’ that poorer countries have been bullied into accepting is unserious and dangerous —a soulless triumph for the rich, but a genuine disaster for our planet and communities. The money on the table is a motley mix of loans and privatized investment –a global Ponzi scheme that the private equity vultures and public relations people will now exploit. The destruction of our planet is avoidable, but not with this shabby and dishonorable deal. The richest polluters need to wise up —and pay up.”

Anabella Rosemberg, Senior Advisor on Just Transition, Climate Action Network International, said: The Just Transition Work Programme was thrown under a bus – one more casualty in a COP29 that added salt to the injury caused by a disgraceful deal on climate finance. Justice must now be served at COP30 in Brazil, whose incoming Presidency will have the difficult duty to repair what has been broken in Baku.

Claudio Angelo, head of International Policy, Observatório do Clima, said: “The finance deal closed today in Baku perverts the UNFCCC and subverts any concept of justice. With the help of an incompetent presidency, developed countries have managed once more to ditch their obligations and make developing countries literally foot the bill. Brazil now is given one more daunting task for COP30, to scale up finance and rebuild the trust among countries.”

Teresa Anderson, Climate justice lead, ActionAid International said: “This text is not worth the paper it’s written on. Almost nothing of what frontline countries have been fighting for is in here. Superficially the numbers may look bigger than the previous 100bn climate finance goal. But scratch the surface, and this is packed full of loans. In order to artificially bulk out the numbers with existing funding streams, it is trying to count everything, everywhere all at once, while also shifting the burden onto developing countries. This is the result of developed countries refusing flat out to provide any real finance. It means that instead of COP29 greenlighting future climate action, the fight for finance will need to be central to every negotiation ahead.”

Hari Krishna Nibanupudi, Global Climate Change and Ageing Adviser said: “Developed countries’ failure at COP 29 to reach meaningful agreements highlights a troubling trend of sidestepping climate responsibilities, normalizing mediocrity under the guise of pragmatism. This reflects a lack of accountability, geopolitical priorities overshadowing climate obligations, and growing cynicism eroding global trust. This conduct not only stalls progress but also deepens inequalities. Climate change does not pause for negotiation delays, and the costs of inaction fall disproportionately on those least equipped to bear them. Developing countries must persist in transparency and binding commitments that prioritize urgency and equity, as delays jeopardise a shared, sustainable future for all.”

Ann Harrison, Climate Justice Adviser, Amnesty International said: “The process and outcome of this COP, held in a country with a severe crackdown on civic space, are unacceptable. Developed countries and the Presidency have ridden roughshod over the human rights of billions by bullying developing countries to accept a deal that will bring further indebtedness and climate distress rather than creating the space for enhancing justice and dignity for all. Climate finance is an obligation, not charity, and this obligation does not disappear just because negotiators managed to insert some weasel words in COP outcome texts. Polluters must pay for the damage they have already caused and we will continue to support and amplify the calls of climate activists around the world in the run up to COP30 in Belem, Brazil, to demand payment of the climate debt. We also call for the immediate release of all activists and environmental human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Azerbaijan, including Anar Mammadli, Gubad Ibadoghlu, and the independent Abzas media journalists including Nargiz Absalamova.”

Catherine Pettengell, Executive Director of Climate Action Network UK (CAN-UK) said, “This is a bad deal for countries and communities on the frontline of the climate emergency, and the manner of the gaveling through without Parties being given the opportunity to speak, erodes trust. Financing the necessary climate action has been neglected for many years, and now we are set to have another decade of inadequacy. This process is important, but it must deliver for people, nature, and climate. It must also be inclusive, transparent, and fair, and we must call it out when it falls short. Developing countries have been forced to accept half measures COP after COP, but at COP29 these half measures push the costs of climate change onto the people least responsible but suffering the worst consequences.

“We do not give up. The fight goes on. Developed countries must reflect on the fairness of this outcome and whether their actions have matched their rhetoric. They need to come to COP30 in Brazil to do better.”

Jamie Williams, Senior Policy Advisor, Islamic Relief Worldwide, said: “COP29 has been a colossal moral failure. We needed a COP of compassion, solidarity and justice, but that spirit is completely missing and this outcome is heartless. Rich, high-polluting nations that caused the crisis have an ethical duty to help those who are suffering its consequences. But instead, they’ve done everything they can to get out of their responsibilities.

The amount agreed is far too low and slow. It’s less than a quarter of the $1.3 trillion needed and people whose lives and livelihoods are being destroyed can’t wait until 2035.

We also see a big step backwards on commitments to phase out fossil fuels and keep global heating below 1.5 degrees, and far too much focus on private finance over public grants. Governments must not leave tackling the biggest crisis facing humanity to unaccountable corporations that will always put profits before people.”

Esin Erdoğan, Policy and Advocacy Officer, Simavi said: “Our jaws dropped when we heard “Baku Climate Unity Pact” at the closing plenary while the finance goal is a disappointment we could not have prepared ourselves for. Having experienced the process, if one thing wasn’t sensible at COP, it certainly was unity. The total finance goal is as much as solely the annual adaptation finance gap, let alone sufficient by 2035 and even encompassing mitigation and loss and damage. This result means that we are on a slippery slope of developed countries not paying their increasingly rising climate debt while billions of lives are at stake. Our work until COP30 must begin tomorrow, and luckily as civil society, we shall lead by example and pave the way for unity to Belem.”

Maxwell, 15, Save the Children child campaigner from South Sudan said: “I feel bad. It means they are not aware of the children, they don’t care about us. Children are dying of flooding, landslides, and poor health, schools are destroyed, and hospitals are not accessible. How can they not feel our pain? Please listen to the children, if you listen to us, you will be able to help us and if you help us, you are securing our future. You are our only hope, be there for us, because we are looking up to you.

“I came from South Sudan to represent their voices, it will be bad for me to go home without any good news for the children.”

Sanjay Vashist, Director of Climate Action Network South Asia said, “Tonight in Baku the masks have come off, rich and developed countries’ governments have revealed their true intentions, that they never intended to honour any of their commitments made under Paris Agreement. Their addiction to fossil fuels has blinded them and they have allowed the over 1000 fossil fuel industry representatives to hijack the COP29 negotiations. The developing world needs at least $ 1.3 trillion for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, by throwing $300 billion on the table and kicking any and all real decisions to 2035, the rich countries have not only betrayed the people of the global south but also their own citizens who had hoped that their governments will finally grow a spine and act responsibly.”

Caroline Brouillette, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada: “The climate finance deal reached today in Baku is a band-aid on a bullet wound. The fact that it’s a bigger band-aid than we’ve seen before is cold comfort when the world is also bleeding more heavily than ever. The climate crisis is hurting people here and now; a vague promise to be fulfilled by 2035 is an insult to those who have already lost their homes, health, and livelihoods.

“COP29 is a story with multiple villains: foot-dragging Global North countries, an obstructive Presidency, the fossil fuel lobby. But there are heroes too, with the most vulnerable countries leading the charge for justice and civil society standing strong despite severe restrictions. We stand united with allies in every part of the world and will continue fighting every step of the way for our collective future.”

Mohamed Adow, Director, Power Shift Africa, said: “This COP has been a disaster for the developing world. It’s a betrayal of both people and planet, by wealthy countries who claim to take climate change seriously.

“Rich countries have promised to “mobilise” some funds in the future, rather than provide them now. The cheque is in the mail. But lives and livelihoods in vulnerable countries are being lost now. At this ‘Finance COP’ not a single dollar of real climate finance has been provided right now.”

Avantika Goswami, Programme Manager, Climate Change, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) India said, “The Global North has abandoned the South with this meagre offer of $300B, and has no right to demand mitigation ambition from our part of the world with so little finance on the table. The ambiguities of the goal make it clear that there will be little accountability and traceability of funds. This was the last remaining window for the North to step up, pay its fair share, and restore some semblance of trust in the multilateral process. They have failed.”

Rachel Rose Jackson, Director of Climate Research & Policy, Corporate Accountability, “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.”

Shereen Talaat, Director, MenaFem Movement for Economic, Development, And Ecological Justice, “300bn Bad deal, Now it’s clear how the Global North sees Climate Finance, it’s Only market-based false solutions, investments for profits not for people nor planet, fighting against grant-based climate finance means that they Are denying their historical responsibility they don’t recognize the urgency, polluters don’t want to pay their climate debt, but they want to continue with another colonial approach. Once again the global economic system falling people not any People only the global south Don’t forget that those who were against #CeasefireInGaza are now against the 1.3 trillion for Climate Justice Finance #NCQG “

Jacqui Patterson, Executive Director, The Chisholm Legacy Project, said, The cost of the damage from a single disaster in the Northeast United States, Hurricane Sandy, was $70B. To pledge $300b globally per year would be laughable if it wasn’t so absolutely, devastatingly tragic. It is an egregious dereliction of the duty of leadership for this to be the outcome of two weeks when thousands came off the frontlines of community struggle to face resistance from industrialised nations, that have placed them in peril, failing to take responsibility for the catastrophic conditions they have wrought. In the case of this outcome the ‘c’ and the ‘f’ in climate finance actually form colossal farce because this relative pittance will barely resource anything at all. As too often has been the case, the COP has re-earned the moniker Conference of Profiteers as, once again, industry interests have trumped the interests of the planet and her people.

Isatis M. Cintrón-Rodríguez, Director, Climate Trace Puerto Rico said, “COP29 is an utter failure, a betrayal of current and future generations. World leaders have betrayed us. The $300 billion/year by 2035 commitment is grossly inadequate and, accounting for inflation, not even an increase from the 100 billion commitment in 2009. When will this smokescreen of climate `negotiations end? How many more failed COPs can we afford? These breadcrumbs insult frontline communities, who bear the brunt of inaction. Wealthy nations have once again shirked their historic responsibilities, ignoring the trillions required for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage. This persistent gap between rhetoric and reality erodes trust and legitimacy of the process.

Jess Beagley, Policy Lead, Global Climate and Health Alliance said “The USD$300 billion per year deal negotiated in Baku is weak, shortsighted and wholly inadequate to address the mounting threats of the climate crisis, and fails to protect the millions of lives on the line. Countries, especially those of the global south, are facing extreme weather that is causing huge economic losses, overburdening health systems, and causing injuries, death, and disease for the people of developing countries. Without adequate financing, developing countries will not be able to build any sort of resilience to the threats from the climate crisis. The health of people in every country depends on it.”

Iskander Erzini Vernoit, co-founder. IMAL Initiative for Climate and Development, said, “The COP29 decision on the new finance goal is a profound disappointment and jeopardizes the delivery of the aims of the Paris Agreement and Framework Convention. Nevertheless, the fight for international action against catastrophic climate change must move forward, more clear-eyed than before.”

Dr Jeni Miller, Executive Director, Global Climate and Health Alliance, “At COP29, the US and other developed countries failed to meet their responsibilities under the Paris Agreement to financially assist developing countries to deal with the devastating impacts of climate change. This harms not only the one billion people of developing countries and small island nations, but also weakens global cooperation on climate and has serious implications for health, trade, security, and other issues essential to the health well-being of people everywhere. Lack of adequate finance also makes it difficult for countries to deliver on the new round of national climate plans, due February 2025.”

Laura van Tamelen, Advocacy Lead, Milieudefensie said, “The finance goal adopted at COP29 is one big disappointment. No wonder developing countries reacted outraged. Rich countries caused the climate crisis but will not take the responsibility to pay up for the damage that is done. Without this finance, developing countries cannot make the necessary progress with the energy transition and phase-out of fossil fuels. The money is there. Trillions are being spent on fossil fuel subsidies. And big polluting companies like oil and gas majors make huge profits. It is time we make polluters pay. Unfortunately, this COP did not deliver, at the expense of people and the planet

Penny Kapusuzoglu, COP29 Coordinator, Generation Climate Europe said: COP29 promised to deliver on climate finance. As young people, we were instilled with false hope and our expectations were clearly not met. The decisions made today for our future are critical, yet the urgency of this situation is not reflected in the text.

The adopted NCQG decision is a profoundly disappointing outcome that fails to provide the necessary delivery to fulfil its intended purpose. It is clear that the current procedures in these UNFCCC processes are insufficient; we are witnessing outcomes that serve the interests of polluters rather than those most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate crisis.

The inaction we have witnessed by the EU will have long-term consequences on people and planet.

Russell Armstrong, International Policy Liaison, US Climate Action Network, said, “This outcome, unfortunately, is not a joke. America has once again led the charge and carried the water for those seeking to avoid accountability and responsibility to solve the climate crisis. Developed nation leaders chose credibility over ambition and got neither. The final text offers only loopholes and empty promises, including calling on ‘all actors’ to work together to raise $1.3T per year by 2035, yet only setting a goal to reach $300B by 2035. This is Orwellian doublespeak. A bright line at this COP was the solidarity of the Global South and some in the North holding fast to their demands in the waning hours and calling this sham what it is. However, kicking the crisis down the road another year to COP30 in Brazil further erodes trust in this process. As Americans, this is yet another sad day compounding a sad month for progress. We’ll remain steadfast in our advocacy, for as long as we can to deliver climate justice. But those days are fast waning, both for our democracy and for our place on the planet.”

Erin Ryan, Senior International Campaigner, Climate Action Network Australia said, ““We travelled across oceans but high-income countries and the COP presidency barely moved an inch. An annual finance goal of USD $300b by 2035 leaves us where we started: with low-income countries struggling to shoulder the rising costs of a climate crisis they never caused. Countries like Australia need to realise that you can’t draft an ambitious text on fossil fuels with one hand while tightening the world’s purse strings with the other.”

Andrea Koehle Jones, Executive Director, of The ChariTree Foundation, said: “Just as we can’t negotiate with the climate, we can’t negotiate with the future of our children. COP29 failed children everywhere today, especially children in the Global South. On days as disheartening as this, I remind kids not to lose hope—there are remarkable people working tirelessly behind the scenes, and we won’t stop until we achieve climate solutions and environmental education opportunities that leave no one behind.”

Madeleine Wörner, climate and energy expert, Misereor said: “The outcome of the climate conference is inadequate. All countries must now take responsibility and present effective national climate protection plans. The solutions have long been on the table. It is time to push ahead with the phase-out of coal, gas and oil and deliver real climate protection.”

Wellington Madumira Coordinator for Climate Action Network Zimbabwe said The summit, hosted by Azerbaijan, is seen as a failure and a global embarrassment, as wealthy countries, with the facilitation of the COP president, dodge their climate obligations while the planet continues to suffer. Baku will also be remembered for enabling rich polluters to cheat their way out of actual emission reductions through the use of dubious pollution permit markets.