COP29 logo is seen in Baku, Azerbaijan on 17 September 2024. Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AFP
Tuvalu's Prime Minister Feleti Teo has added his voice to the calls for a more just climate finance system for small island states and the least developed countries.
The United Nations climate change conference, COP29, is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan for the next two weeks.
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Teo is pushing for the new pledge, known as the New Collective Qualifying Goal (NCQG), to be significantly higher than the previous goal of US$100 billion a year.
He is also asking for better access to climate money.
COP29 has been dubbed the "finance cop" in a reference to the call for climate funding. The United Nations boss António Guterres told world leaders on Tuesday that "there is no time to lose" and warned that "the world must pay up, or humanity will pay the price."
Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) director Tagaloa Cooper said the region wants to see a real increase in climate finance.
Cooper, who is in Baku, said climate finance discussions now need to be in the trillions, not billions, because the cost of adaptation is very high.
"The Pacific wants to come away with agreement on climate finance, on real increase in finance, commitment to that finance increase, commitment to finance flow - making it more accessible for small developing countries like the Pacific," she said.
A loss and damage relief fund to help the most vulnerable countries has now been officially signed off, according to reports.
The fund now has a board with representation from developing countries, and is expected to start handing out aid next year.
Sweden pledged 200 million kr (approximately US$19m) to the fund subject to government approval - bringing the total pledged funding to more than $720m.
Also at COP, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (IF-CAP).
IF-CAP is targeting total guarantees of US$2.5 billion, which will go toward covering parts of ADB's existing loan portfolio. ADB said this would then allow it to free up an estimated $11.25 billion in dedicated climate financing for the region.
It said it had guarantees of close to $2.2b: $1b from the United States, $600m from Japan (plus a $25m grant), $280m from the United Kingdom, $200m from Australia, and $100m from Denmark through the Investment Fund for Developing Countries.
Children at risk
Meanwhile, a new report launched at COP29 says children in the Pacific are being exposed to more disease because of climate change.
More than 700 children from across the Pacific responded to the World Vision climate change study.
It found more extreme weather events are affecting young people's safety, economic opportunities, and mental health.
Researcher Hanna Taylor-Moller said children have an increased risk of injury, food shortages and lack of access to clean water.
"Exposure to disease is increased, and I think that's something we often don't realise around climate change," she said.
"You get a lot more insects and mosquitoes that kind of help spread disease when things warm up."
She said risk of contracting other diseases like cholera and diarrhoea has also increased.
Taylor-Moller also said Pacific respondents talked about feeling unsafe.
"That's because we know in the Pacific it's really high exposure to disasters - Vanuatu is actually number one in the world for exposure to disasters.
"We've got that king tides, storm surges, cyclones - quite dramatic events."
She said there's also "massive compassion" from the young people surveyed.
"There's a number of calls here where they've said that governments need to respond to the needs of elderly, disabled, marginalised; we're talking about subsistence farmers here."
