Over 80 bln USD mobilized at UN climate conference

DUBAI, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Over 83 billion U.S. dollars have been mobilized in the first five days at COP28, or the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said its presidency on Thursday.

The pledged funds were included in declarations on food systems transformation and health, declarations on renewable energy and efficiency, as well as initiatives to decarbonize heavy emitting industries, according to a press release by the COP28 presidency.

On the first day of the climate conference, the COP28 presidency facilitated a historic agreement to operationalize and capitalize funding for Loss and Damage, supporting those on the front lines of the climate crisis with 726 million dollars already pledged to date.

Under the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement, developed countries should provide assistance in finance, technology and capacity building to developing nations to adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts.

Developed countries had pledged to provide 100 billion U.S. dollars in climate finance every year by 2020, however, the promise has yet to be entirely fulfilled.

The sum accumulated in the first few days of COP28 marked positive progress, yet many delegates here are still concerned about the delivery of the pledged funds.