Day three of COP26 will be focused on finance, and in particular how developing countries or those most affected by climate change will be supported financially.
In Copenhagen, at COP15 in 2009, countries came together there and said that they would provide $100bn per year and they would reach that target by 2020. They did not meet the target. It's estimated they were short by at least $20bn.
"You can see it here in Glasgow," said Conor O’Neill from Christian Aid Ireland.
"People from developing countries are angry that this figure has not been delivered but also that it’s not sufficient."
COP26 President of Alok Sharma recommitted to delivering on that $100bn as one of the key aims of this summit.
"In many ways the success of this COP will depend on the issue of financial support," Mr O’Neill said.
Money money money, must be funny, in a rich countries world. Day three of COP26 will be focused on finance, and in particular how developing countries or those most impacted by climate change will be supported financially | Read more: https://t.co/Kh8yJmV9Nh pic.twitter.com/YxvfqRJUHi
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) November 3, 2021
Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced Ireland's portion of the fund in his address to heads of government at the second day of the World Leader’s Summit portion of COP26.
Currently, Ireland offers around €90m in financial support to countries dealing with the effects of climate change.
The Taoiseach committed Ireland to at least doubling that amount, with at least €225m coming from Ireland by 2025.
However, Christian Aid Ireland said this figure was not enough for four years’ time or now.
"It’s a really significant welcome announcement but it is still short of the scale of the task at hand," Mr O’Neill said.
"Research that we have done takes a look at Ireland’s past emissions, current emissions and relative wealth compared to other countries best estimates show we should be contributing €500m per year in climate finance and that should be happening today not pushed out to 2025."
Mr O’Neill said they can see the impact of climate change in their work around the world.
"It’s a profoundly unequal process" he said, as the countries most affected were not the ones with major emissions.
While the aid organisation was critical of the quantity being provided, it said the quality of aid packages provided by Ireland was excellent.
Mr O’Neill said they hoped that Irish negotiators would champion that fact and share their methods with others.
World leaders have vacated the stage, leaving negotiators the task of figuring out the nuts and bolts of the plan, and in particular how they are going to deliver much needed funds to most affected areas.
