UN official urges more financial aid to developing nations at COP28

United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has called for bigger financial support to the developing nations, stressing finance as the "great enabler for climate action".

He made the remarks midway through the two-week-long COP28 UN climate change conference in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday.

"We can only overcome the climate crisis by ditching business as usual," he said.

Stiell urged more progress for the newly established Loss and Damage Fund, a long-standing demand of developing nations to help them cope with the costs of the devastation caused by climate change.

First agreed during COP27 late last year in Egypt, the fund was operationalized on Nov 30 when COP28 kicked off.

Several countries, led by the UAE, have made financial commitments to the fund, with the UAE and Germany each contributing $100 million.

"At Sharm el-Sheikh, I said we would do things differently," Stiell said. "So over the last year, on loss and damage, we opted for an innovative approach - a Transitional Committee - which drove forward progress much faster."

The win on the fund in Dubai gave this COP "a spring in its step". But it is just a start, he emphasized.

"We need enhanced transparency, and to deliver our promise to fund climate action across the world," he continued.

Good intentions won't halve emissions this decade or save lives right now, Stiell stated. Only serious progress on finance can deliver frontline results.

"We've said we'll double adaptation finance - now we have to deliver, including on the details, and set ourselves up to go much further. We must not lose any focus on the Global Goal for Adaptation," he said.

The climate adaptation finance is also one of the major concerns of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

While addressing the G77 and China Leader's Summit on Dec 2, Guterres said, "We need also to see a clear plan to double adaptation finance to $40 billion a year by 2025 as a first step to devote at least half of all climate finance to adaptation."

The UN secretary-general also urged developed nations to clarify the delivery of the $100 billion commitment.

In 2009, developed countries pledged to mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 to support climate action in developing countries. The promise, however, has not yet been fully honored.