Climate Experts Show Rich Countries Can and Must Raise Trillions for Climate Action

Today, Oil Change International released a briefing showing rich countries can mobilize well over $5 trillion a year for climate action at home and abroad by ending fossil fuel handouts, making big polluters pay, and changing unfair global financial rules. The briefing is published as global leaders meet at Climate Week NYC and the United Nations General Assembly and ahead of COP29, where leaders must agree on a new global climate finance target (NCQG). Climate experts say this target must be $1 trillion annually in grants and grant-equivalent finance and that an ambitious target is essential for countries to deliver last year’s commitment to transition away from fossil fuels. Only strong finance targets will unlock strong national climate plans (NDCs) due in 2025 that phase out fossil fuels.

Following global protests demanding rich countries #PayUp their share of climate damages and mitigations, the briefing, titled “Road to COP29: Shifting and Unlocking Public Finance for a Fair Fossil Fuel Phase-out,” outlines critical steps for negotiators to ensure adequate funding for global climate action. The briefing emphasizes the need for a fair and funded fossil fuel phase-out, highlighting the importance of grant-based financing for countries in the Global South facing record-breaking debt and cost-of-living crises.

Key Points:

• The success of COP29 depends on the adoption of an ambitious new climate finance target (NCQG) of at least $1 trillion annually in grants and grant-equivalent finance.
• Rich countries have the means to mobilize well over $5 trillion a year for climate action at home and for the NCQG, including by ending fossil fuel handouts, making big polluters pay, and changing unfair global financial rules.
• Grant-based and highly concessional financing, not more harmful loans, is an urgent need to fulfill the landmark COP28 decision to phase-out fossil fuels, especially for adaptation, loss and damage, and key mitigation projects in the Global South.
• Countries must not get distracted by voluntary energy finance proposals or oil money funds that do little more than greenwash. Instead they should focus on delivering a strong and accountable NCQG and making polluters pay through well-designed and legislated fossil fuel levies.
• Last year at COP28, governments committed to transition away from fossil fuels. The next key step to make good on this landmark energy agreement is rich countries agreeing to a new climate finance goal (NCQG) to make this possible. This will allow countries to deliver national climate plans (NDCs) due in 2025 that phase out fossil fuels.

Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International Public Finance lead, said: “Last year countries agreed to phase out fossil fuels. Now it’s time for rich countries to pay up to turn this promise into action. There is no shortage of public money available for rich countries to pay their fair share for climate action at home and abroad. They can unlock trillions in grants and grant-equivalent climate finance by ending fossil fuel handouts, making polluters pay and changing unfair financial rules. They owe this money to Global South countries that have not caused this crisis and need fair finance to deliver strong climate plans next year that phase out fossil fuels. This is essential to avoid climate breakdown and save lives.”

Tasneem Essop, Executive Director of Climate Action Network International, said: “In the countdown to COP29, we are witnessing developed nations clinging to the remnants of a colonial past, dragging their feet in the crucial negotiations for a new climate finance goal. Let’s be clear: the Global North owes an immense climate debt to the Global South, a debt born from decades of greenhouse gas emissions for their industrialisation and that continues today at the expense of vulnerable communities in the Global South. The solutions are within reach and the resources exist – but the political will remains shamefully absent. While trillions are funnelled into militarisation and fossil fuel subsidies, these funds could be redirected to build a just, sustainable future. It’s time to stop stalling. It’s time to make polluters and the wealthy pay for the harm they have caused. The world can no longer afford excuses. We need bold, transformative action—now.”

Andreas Sieber, Associate Director of Policy and Campaigns , 350.org said: “It is a bitter irony that rich nations hide behind claims of fiscal restraint, yet trillions are still spent on fossil fuel subsidies and militarization. The truth is simple: the money exists, but the political will does not. By treating climate finance as a zero-sum game, wealthy countries not only deepen global inequality but also undermine their own futures. The energy transition isn’t charity—it’s an investment in global stability and security. Ignoring the need for support only worsens the climate crisis, which knows no borders. The real question isn’t whether we can afford to act, but whether we can afford not to.”

Alejandra López Carbajal, Transforma Climate Diplomacy Director said: “There is an attempt from developed countries to frame the new climate finance negotiations in a context of public finance scarcity when in reality, there are enough resources to address the climate crisis, for example, in fossil fuel subsidies which are socially regressive and only deepening the climate crisis. We are calling for a true leadership package from developed nations to agree on an ambitious NCQG that enables to possibility to keep 1.5°C in reach and drives necessary transitions and investments throughout the developing world”

Erika Lennon, Senior Attorney, Centre for International Environmental Law said: “No more excuses, no more pretending carbon markets are climate finance, no more subsidizing fossil fuels. It is long past time for Global North polluters to step up and put the money they owe on the table for real, effective, rights compatible climate action—or face legal consequences. The money is not missing, it’s being misused. Continuing to fund fossil fuels and fossil foolery — dangerous distractions and techno-fixes that only prolong the fossil economy and perpetuate fossil fueled-climate destruction — is not just inexcusable; it’s incompatible with human rights and environmental law. At COP29 we need a climate finance goal in the trillions and follow through to deliver it.”

The briefing is endorsed by 36 organizations calling on negotiators and world leaders to prioritize these demands in the lead-up to COP29, ensuring that climate finance commitments match the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.