Leaders of developing countries threatened by climate change told rich nations at the United Nations General Assembly that they are falling far short of promises to fund measures to combat rising sea levels, droughts and deforestation.
"It is past time for the rich world to meet its obligations and get money to where it’s needed most,” Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine told the assembly last week. "We’ve heard the promises — but promises don’t reclaim land in atoll nations like mine."
Wealthy countries have struggled to meet climate finance commitments. Their funding reached $100 billion a year, an amount agreed upon in 2009, two years late in 2022. At a U.N. climate summit last year, leaders agreed to provide developing countries $300 billion a year by 2035. Many developing countries blasted that sum as far too small to meet the need. Experts have estimated that developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade.
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