Baku, Azerbaijan — Evans Njewa, Chair of the LDC Climate Group, representing 45 countries and 1.1 billion people, comments ahead of COP29:

The LDC Group urgently demands scaled up, new, additional, and easily accessible climate finance that meets the unique needs of our vulnerable communities, and is delivered as grants, not loans. For too long, debt burdens have crippled our economies and deepened our vulnerabilities.

Through partially costed estimates, the LDCs alone are in need of at least US$ 1 trillion by 2030 to implement our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). A failure to conclude COP29 without a bold new finance goal would be a tragic disservice to both the planet and vulnerable populations.

This year alone, severe flooding and landslides devastated lives and property across Nepal, Chad, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and more. The world must step up with a game-changing climate finance goal that matches the true scale of our needs. Not billions, but trillions.

It’s more important than ever that countries remain committed to continuing to work together to address this global crisis and collectively step up efforts.

COP29 must be clear on this, encouraging countries to submit strong new climate action plans – Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) – early next year that are aligned with the 1.5°C goal. Additionally, our countries must be provided with adequate support to implement these plans.
COP29 must also finalise the remaining rules on carbon markets, ensuring the market mechanisms support emissions reductions and don’t compromise environmental integrity.

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For further information, please contact the LDC Group Press Office:
Mathews Malata: +265999646114 | Yohane Chideya: +265884021207 Email: media@ldc-climate.org| Website: https://www.ldc-climate.org, X:https://x.com/LDCChairUNFCCC

Notes to the editor:

The Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group is made up of 45 countries across Africa, the Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean, with a joint population of over one billion people. Incredibly vulnerable to environmental and economic shocks, and disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, our countries negotiate together as a bloc at UN climate talks to advance our shared interest in a fair and ambitious global response to climate change.

For more information on the LDC Group’s positions, see the 2024 Lilongwe Declaration on Climate Change by Ministers of the Least Developed Countries.
Evans Njewa is the current Chair of the Least Developed Countries Group, and the Head of Climate Change and UNFCCC Focal Point for the Government of Malawi.