COP29: We can’t stop the climate crisis by spending less on climate finance than we spend on ice cream

Teresa Anderson the Global Climate Justice Lead at ActionAid said:

“COP29 is about the new climate finance goal to unlock climate action in the Global South. Without finance, talk about climate action will remain just that – talk. They say there is no such thing as a free lunch – well there’s no such thing as a free climate target either. If we’re serious about climate action, we have to pay for climate action.

Sticking the Global South with an escalating climate bill is not only unfair, it’s a recipe for certain planetary breakdown. This is why climate-hit countries desperately need COP29 to agree a new climate finance goal that delivers real worth trillions of dollars in grants each year.

And it needs to be the wealthy countries of the Global North, who have been polluting for a century or more, that finally pay up the real money for climate action. So far wealthy countries have been evading their responsibilities. In 2022, between them, developed countries only provided $28-35 billion in grants for climate action in the Global South. For context, the world spent twice as much on ice cream that year ($71 billion).

We can’t avert planetary meltdown by spending less on climate finance than we spend on ice cream.”

Mosammat Dulali, a community member from Kalapara region in Southern Bangladesh, said:

“In my childhood, I didn’t witness disasters as severe as those in recent years, especially from 2007 to 2024. Just this year alone, we’ve experienced four cyclones. My community is overwhelmed by various problems like houses collapsing, lands submerging, and loss of livelihoods, along with the deaths of livestock, women, and children. Every year, many people, including women and children, die due to drowning, falling trees, or various diseases. 

Tidal surges from cyclones and floods have increased the salinity of agricultural land reducing the ability of the land to produce enough food for the community.  In our region, we used to produce a good variety of winter crops, especially lentils and watermelons, and were self-sufficient, but now we can’t.  

Farmers now produce fewer crops than before. Nowadays, we face drought during the planting season, and sometimes heavy rains and floods destroy the crops. Every year, the fish population in rivers and the sea also decreases, resulting in a protein deficiency.

We need the world to act now to address these climate disasters. If it continues like this, we may not have a community left to talk about.”

Nura Ahmed Mohamed, the Country Program Manager with ActionAid Somaliland, said:

“In Somaliland, climate change is more than an environmental crisis – it’s a humanitarian disaster with severe gendered impacts. Increasingly frequent droughts and flash floods threaten the lives and livelihoods of countless families, but the toll is particularly harsh on women and girls. Despite these challenges, women are often the first responders in their communities, taking on roles in caregiving, food production, and managing natural resources. These extreme weather events disrupt agriculture, leading to food shortages, loss of income, and forced displacement. Families in crisis often resort to harmful coping mechanisms, such as child marriage to survive; This has caused child marriage rates and cases to surge, while girls are pulled out of school at alarming rates.” 

Michelle Higelin, Executive Director of ActionAid Australia, said: 

“Australia often talks about supporting our Pacific neighbours to respond to the climate crisis – now is the time to put that solidarity into action. The new climate finance goal is the most important agreement since the Paris agreement and will decide the future of millions of women living on the frontlines of climate catastrophe across the Pacific and the world.  

“Minister Chris Bowen has a unique opportunity as co-chair of the negotiations, and he must not let this opportunity pass. As a wealthy, high polluting country, Australia has an obligation to ensure that the new climate finance goal delivers for women and their communities grappling with the devastating and daily impacts of the climate crisis. 

“Pacific Island countries have contributed almost nothing to a crisis that is now threatening their very survival. If Australia wants to show it is a committed member of the Pacific family, it must put real money on the table and ensure delivery of an annual USD 1 trillion climate finance goal.

Wealthy countries must step up climate finance at this COP, rich polluting countries have a responsibility to provide climate finance, but they are failing on this obligation. We want them to commit to grant-based finance and not loans.”

ENDS

Full video footage of the press briefing is available to download here.

For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact: [email protected]

ActionAid’s delegation of expert spokespeople are available for media interviews, briefings, and commentary throughout COP.

ActionAid spokespeople at COP29

Australia & the Pacific

1. Michelle Higelin: Country Director at ActionAid Australia. Topics include – Australian positions, gendered impacts and women’s leadership, climate finance obligations of developed countries.
2. Flora Vano: Country Program Manager for ActionAid Vanuatu. Topics include – Climate impacts in the Pacific, loss and damage, women’s leadership, and fossil fuels.
3. Carolyn Kitione: Regional Representative (Fiji) at Shifting the Power Coalition. Topics include – Climate impacts in the Pacific, women’s leadership.

International

1. Teresa Anderson: ActionAid International’s Climate Justice Lead. Teresa is the head of delegation and lead spokesperson at COP29. Topics include – Climate finance, climate impacts, loss and damage, agriculture, adaptation, gender, fossil fuels, carbon offsets and net zero technologies, just transition, debt, tax justice, financial flows including subsidies, banking and Article 2.1c.
2. Brandon Wu: Senior Policy Analyst, ActionAid USA (At COP29 on week 2). Topics include – US elections and positions, equity, climate finance, loss and damage fund.
3. Farah Kabir: Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh. Topics include – Climate impacts in Bangladesh, loss and damage, the need for climate finance, and gender. 
4. Dulali Begum: Community member from Bangladesh (At COP29 on week 1). Topics include – Climate impacts at the community level, gender and women’s leadership, local impacts of coal developments.
5. Zahra Hdidou: Senior Resilience and Climate Advisor, ActionAid UK. Topics include – climate finance, adaptation, gender, loss and damage.
6. Susan Otieno: Executive Director at ActionAid International Kenya. Topics include – Climate impacts in Kenya, gendered impacts and women’s leadership, need for climate finance. 
7. Hamdi Benslama: EU Advocacy Advisor. Topics include – EU obligations and positions, particularly on climate finance.
8. Agnes Schim van der Loeff: Policy Adviser, Climate Justice, ActionAid Netherlands. Topics include – Climate finance, Dutch and EU obligations and positions, gender, loss and damage, just transition in extractives.
9. Sylia Kijangwa: Youth advocate from Tanzania (At COP29 on week 1). Topics include – Climate impacts and youth perspectives. 
10. Emmaqulate Kemunto: Global Campaigner (At COP29 on week 2). Topics include – Campaigns and mobilisations.