Explainer: COP29: New Collective Quantified Goal

The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is basically a target for finance. It will indicate the funds that should be mobilised annually to support climate action projects in the developing countries. 

In 2009, at the COP15 held in Copenhagen, developed countries set a target of $100 billion per year. This target was to be met by 2020. (The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is a ‘rich countries club’, declared that the $100-billion target was met in 2022, which many dispute. But that is another point.) 

At the COP21 held in Paris in 2015, which resulted in the famous Paris Agreement, countries agreed that they would set a New Collective Quantified Goal for finance in 2024. This NCQG would replace — and be higher than — the $100 billion target. The NCQG is expected to be decided and adopted at the ongoing COP29 in Azerbaijan. 

Other than the quantum of finance itself, the NCQG would be different from the previous $100-billion target in the way it is arrived at. The earlier $-100 billion target was not decided after assessing the needs of companies, but was a political commitment, mainly to house the recognition that developed countries have a responsibility to provide financial support to developing countries. However, it has already been agreed that the NCQG target will be arrived at after taking into account the needs of developing countries. 

This is a part of the negotiations. But the US-based think-tank, World Resources Institute (WRI), says that the NCQG will support implementation of low-carbon, climate resilient solutions in energy, transport, agriculture and other vital systems. 

While the target is the central issue in the negotiations, it is well recognised that the developing countries need trillions of dollars to combat climate change. According to one report, which represents the lowest estimate, the funding needed by the developing countries to keep up their commitments under their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) works out to around $5.8 trillion cumulatively till 2030.