One of the primary outcomes of COP29 will be the agreement on a post-2025 climate finance goal (NCQG or New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance). In the run-up to COP29, the 11th Technical Expert Dialogue (TED11) of the NCQG is an important opportunity for UNFCCC Parties and Observers to discuss the new climate finance goal, including agreements on the qualitative elements.

Ahead of TED11, the Debt and Climate Working Group co-led by Eurodad, APMDD, LATINDADD, CAN-International, Debt Justice UK, Demand Climate Justice and Recourse, have submitted the following document to the UNFCCC on the NCQG.

Our submission recommends that:

1. The debt implications need to be further analysed while discussing a new climate finance goal.
2. The NCQG process should guarantee the provision of urgent adequate, high-quality, new and additional, public, grants-based climate finance on the scale of the US$ 5 trillion per year from the global north as part of the huge climate debt owed to the global south. The provision and mobilisation by developed countries of public climate finance in the form of grants and highly concessional finance should form a majority core of the NCQG.
3. All climate finance contributions must respond to the needs and priorities of developing countries, including local communities, indigenous peoples, afrodescendants, local communities, vulnerable groups, women and youth.
4. The NCQG should not result in further indebtedness from climate finance in the global south and thus should follow the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and adopt a climate justice perspective. This includes limiting the role of the multilateral development banks (MDBs), the IMF and the private sector in channelling funds raised through the NQCG, unless significant democratic reforms are pursued.
5. Grants and highly concessional finance should form a majority of the public climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries under the NCQG. A mobilisation focused on the private sector cannot deliver the quantity nor quality of finance needed.
6. The historical responsibility of global north countries should not be diluted by enlarging the base of contributors, aligning the new goal with Article 2.1.c, or overstating the role of the private sector instead of focusing on Article 9 of the Paris Agreement. Focusing on mobilising private sector resources will not deliver the quantity nor quality of climate finance needed.
7. The NCQG process should guarantee direct access to climate finance for the most vulnerable groups . Most of the current climate finance mechanisms, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Adaptation Fund (AF) and Global Environment Facility (GEF), are mired in cumbersome procedures and time-consuming bureaucracy.
8. In order to promote transparency, Parties must agree on a single definition for climate finance based on the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, focused on the provision and mobilisation of finance by developed countries to developing countries, and on a single methodology to measure and report on it.
9. The political decisions to be taken in 2024 should be guided by scientific evidence, as well as by the technical inputs obtained during the TEDs.  Such decisions should be timely, needs-based, and attentive to removing barriers preventing vulnerable and underrepresented peoples and communities from accessing concessional funding for action on the ground.
10. When a climate-extreme event takes place there should be an immediate interest-free cancellation of all debt payments from that country across all creditors for a specified period, alongside additional grant-based financing for addressing loss and damage. After an assessment period, a debt sustainability analysis should be conducted, considering the losses and damages and the financing needs for recovery and reconstruction, followed by a debt restructuring plan, including cancellation, across all creditors.
11. Unconditional debt cancellation must be ensured for all countries that need it, across all creditors (bilateral, multilateral, and private).
12. New legislation in key jurisdictions - including New York and the UK - should be introduced to compel private creditor participation in debt cancellation and restructuring.
13. An agreement on a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt should encompass global consensus on the necessary rules and procedures, principles and structures throughout the different interdependent stages of the debt cycle, including the establishment of a multilateral debt workout process under the auspices of the United Nations, that can help countries break the vicious cycle of escalating debt and climate crises.
14. In addition to establishing and implementing the NCQG, a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation should be supported to further contribute to meeting the financing needs of global south countries.

Download the submission