Drafting new climate goals

After a week of negotiations and disagreements, the delegates from across the world gathered in Baku for COP29, released a draft outlining the climate finance goal — New Collective Quantified Goal — but several revisions are expected before an agreement is reached, if any. The bone of contention is where the finance will come from, as the Global South, including Pakistan, demands money from the developed countries for the damage they caused to the environment since the industrial age began. In his speech at the World Leaders Climate Action Summit last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted the unmet pledges made at previous climate conferences and called out the loan-laden climate finance instead of aid to build resilience. In its stance at the ongoing negotiations, the G-77 Group, of which Pakistan is a part, and other blocks comprising developing countries, argued for easy access to climate finance and aid instead of loans.