Urgent climate finance pleas at COP31 face a non-urgent response

ANTALYA, TURKIYE Urgent pleas for cash from poor ​nations most exposed to the kind of climate-related disasters that have marked this year risk meeting a sluggish response at Turkiye’s COP31 talks as Western governments put ‌national security and living costs first. Two years ago, rich countries agreed at UN climate talks they would triple ​climate funding for poorer countries to $300 billion per year by 2035 versus a previous 2020 target.

Also by 2035, financing ⁠from all public and private sources combined would be $1.3 trillion annually. The rich countries met their 2020 target two years late.

Also Read | Why climate finance remains a recurring flashpoint at UN summits https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/why-the-same-climate-finance-dispute-returns-at-every-un-climate-summit/article71690224.ece Since then, climate action has slipped down the political agenda for Western governments as U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn international funding, while wars in Ukraine and West Asia have added to inflationary ‌pressures and the need to spend on security.