Broken climate finance promises by rich nations undermine global action: COP30 president

Correa do Lago noted that developing countries such as China and Brazil have made significant progress in climate action through domestic efforts, without waiting for international funding.

BONN, Germany, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The failure of developed countries to deliver on climate finance commitments to developing nations has become a major bottleneck in global climate governance, said Andre Aranha Correa do Lago, president-designate of the upcoming COP30 climate change conference, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua.

"According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement, developed countries have obligations towards developing countries, because they are historically responsible for climate change. But the reality is, developed countries are not fulfilling their obligations," Correa do Lago noted during the ongoing UN June Climate Meetings in the southwestern German city of Bonn, where UNFCCC is headquartered.

"The developed countries have reduced their contributions, and the absence of the United States (in the Paris Agreement and the June meetings) obviously shows that very clearly," said the Brazilian diplomat.

Some developing countries, such as China and Brazil, have made significant progress in climate action through their own domestic efforts, without waiting for international funding. "China has provided the world with amazing answers to fight climate change that are financed by the Chinese budget. Brazil is doing the same, presenting many solutions funded by ours," he said.

He further noted that China and Brazil are not only taking action domestically but also supporting other developing countries through mechanisms such as South-South cooperation.

"When a developed country brings cooperation, it generally assumes that it has the answers for other countries," he said. "When Brazil and China bring cooperation to another developing country, however, we bring our experiences, but we understand that each recipient country needs its own answers. It doesn't have to follow exactly what China or Brazil is doing."

"That's why our South-South cooperation is more careful and more attentive to the specific needs of our partners," Correa do Lago said.

However, he made it clear that such solidarity-based cooperation cannot substitute the responsibilities of developed nations. "That's where there is a difficulty sometimes for people to understand: one dimension is an obligation which is the developed countries to support the developing countries; and the other is solidarity that China or Brazil have towards other developing countries," he said.

During the interview, the designated president also emphasized that China, in particular, has become one of the world's most important contributors of practical climate solutions, largely due to its technological capacity and production scale. "China now is probably the country that is bringing more answers to how to fight climate change," he said.

"China has succeeded in lowering the cost of many technologies, for instance, solar panels or electric vehicles," he said, adding that by doing so, China has accelerated the adoption of climate solutions in many developing countries, because lower costs, such as of solar panels, have enabled regions like Africa to enter solar energy production much faster.

He elaborated that when the cost of solar energy was comparable to fossil fuel alternatives, many projects depended on uncertain financing. "But when solar becomes so much more inexpensive than other technologies, many countries are embracing solar energy thanks to China," he said.

COP30 is scheduled to take place this November in Brazil's Belem, a city in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Correa do Lago explained that this location was chosen not only to draw attention to vulnerable ecosystems under threat from climate change, but also to highlight the crucial role that nature-based solutions, such as forest restoration, play in climate mitigation.

"Forests, like other ecosystems, bring many answers on how to fight climate change. Restoration of forests, for instance, is the only scientifically demonstrated way of capturing CO2 that has already been emitted," he said.

Looking ahead, Correa do Lago said that COP30 is expected to serve as a global stage to showcase hope and pathways for transformative change.

"Brazil wants the COP30 to be a COP that shows to the world that fighting climate change is good for the economy, is good for jobs, and is good for developing countries," he said. "We must show the world that it cannot give up the fight against climate change, because the answers have never been closer." ■