The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stated on Thursday that developed countries may have fulfilled their long-awaited promise to provide $100 billion to help less wealthy nations adapt to climate change in 2022, an estimate that could rally some goodwill ahead of the COP28 climate summit. In 2009, developed countries pledged to allocate $100 billion annually starting in 2020 to the poorer nations affected by worsening climate change disasters. Previously, wealthy nations indicated that this goal would not be reached until 2023.
The goal carries political symbolism, and its failure to materialize has led to a lack of trust in previous climate talks, hindering other agreements to tackle climate change, while poorer nations claim that the world’s economic powers leave them in a precarious situation. The data comes two weeks ahead of the United Nations climate summit COP28, set to begin in Dubai on November 30.
OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann stated, "Based on initial unverified data, it appears that the goal has likely been achieved as of 2022." The organization noted that the $100 billion amount is far less than the actual climate investment needs of poorer countries, which could reach up to one trillion dollars annually by 2025.
