Responding to the COP29 finance agreement, Phil Bloomer, Executive Director of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, said: 

"The COP29 finance agreement is a major disappointment for Global South peoples and governments. Rich countries have failed to deliver the finance that is needed to help developing country governments to decarbonise, adapt to the worsening climate, and repair the loss and damage from flooding and fire that is already upon them. Instead, rich countries are committing to £300 billion per year, and wishing the other $1 trillion will come from business, investors, and multilateral banks.

There is certainly a lot of private money available – private equity and venture capital alone have an estimated $2.6 trillion in ‘dry powder’ or capital searching for profitable projects. Rich countries want much of their $300 billion to be used to ‘de-risk’ and so ‘crowd-in’ private investment in developing countries – effectively a subsidy to prospective investors. 

With this level of dependence on private capital confirmed in Baku, rich countries have an immediate obligation to at least ensure the business regulation that will ensure that their benefitting companies respect human and environmental rights in developing countries. The transition to green economies must build public trust through investment plans that deliver shared prosperity, corporate due diligence, and fair negotiations with communities and workers."

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