Calls made for scaled-up climate financing to support mitigation, adaptation in developing nations

There have been renewed calls for developed countries to fulfil their longstanding, yet largely unmet, commitments to provide financial support to developing nations in their efforts to combat climate change. Leaders from Brazil and Caribbean countries made these appeals during a summit held last Friday in Brasilia. The discussions focused on the upcoming 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), scheduled to take place in Brazil from 10 to 21 November 2025.

Set for the city of Belém, in the Brazilian State of Pará, this will be the first time the global climate change is held in the Amazon region. In a joint statement following the one-day Brazil-Caribbean Summit, the Heads of State of Brazil and the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM), along with other regional leaders, expressed concerns that 2024 was the warmest year on record globally, and the first calendar year that the average global temperature exceeded 1.5ºC above its pre-industrial level. They recognised that the scale and gravity of climate change and its growing impact on people’s lives poses an existential threat to humankind.
More importantly, the leaders acknowledged that climate change is of special concern for the Caribbean since the region is heavily affected by natural disasters, exacerbated by sea level rise and saltwater intrusion thus making it urgent to address those specific needs and circumstances.
Noting that the response to climate change must be global in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, they urge all Parties, particularly developed country that are signatories to the climate change convention, to fulfil their continuously unmet commitments, not just with regard to emissions reductions, but also their obligations in providing support to developing countries, including climate finance.
“We call for significantly scaled-up climate finance, including increased access to concessional finance and grants, to support mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage responses in developing countries,” the leaders stated.
“We urge the proper capitalisation of climate funds, and the financial reform needed to scale adaptation in developing countries. We reaffirm that adequate financing, robust capacity-building initiatives and technology transfer are critical enablers of climate action, and essential to empowering all countries in their climate responses and resilience. In this regard, we call for greater financial and technical support.”
Moreover, the participants also agreed to reaffirm support for guiding the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,” which seeks to scale up needed climate finance to developing countries. The Roadmap, led by the Presidencies of the 29th and 30th COPs, must serve as a tool for leveraging finance to low-carbon and climate-resilience pathways in developing countries, recalling that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) alerts on the urgency of climate action are centred on findings that finance, technology, and international cooperation are critical for accelerated climate action.
“It is an urgent requirement to enhance the scale and speed of climate finance according to the needs of developing countries, including through the immediate reform of the international financial architecture. The unique vulnerabilities and special circumstances of SIDS (Small Island Developing States) must be adequately considered in financial decisions,” they emphasised.
To this end, the Brazilian and Caribbean leaders committed to help create and deliver a full menu of financing options to accelerate private and public investment through, inter alia, results-based payments, concessional finance, as well as enhancing cooperation through high integrity carbon markets, as appropriate, in line with the multilateral agreements and the different national priorities and circumstances. In this context, they expressed anticipation for the launch of the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, an innovative and large-scale incentive for developing countries to conserve and restore their rainforests.
The leaders further underscored their commitment to remain united in the global fight against climate change now more than ever, upholding the UNFCCC and its Paris Agreement as the cornerstone of our collective efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. They noted that international cooperation must aim to strengthen respective capabilities and institutions in all countries.
They went onto stressed that, “We must scale up efforts to build resilience through meaningful adaptation plans and put adaptation at the centre of climate action in this critical decade. In the context of the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events, we emphasise the urgency to address loss and damage caused by the adverse impacts of climate change and strengthen the loss and damage response under the UNFCCC to support developing countries.”
On that note, the leaders welcome the launch of a start-up phase for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage in which half of available funds will be for SIDS and Least Developed Countries (LDC).
They also highlighted the essential role of the oceans as climate regulator and carbon dioxide sink and their importance to the mitigation of global warming. They further encourage the inclusion of ocean-based measures in national climate policies, having recognised their contribution to the adaptation and resilience to the adverse effects of climate change.
Among other things, the Brazilian and Caribbean Heads of State also acknowledged the vulnerability of groups such as Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, youth, children, and persons with disabilities which are often disproportionately affected by the adverse impacts of climate change as well as recognised the vital contributions of people of African descent, who are embodying traditional ways of life, preserving shared knowledge systems and maintaining deep connections with their lands in the efforts to achieve sustainable development.
“We recognise that climate change-related sea level rise disproportionately affects SIDS and coastal communities, especially in developing countries, and reaffirm our commitment to cooperate and support communities particularly vulnerable to its impacts… We affirm the importance of climate justice when taking action to address climate change and emphasise that just transition processes are directly related to promoting sustainable development, eradicating poverty and reducing inequalities, between and within countries,” the joint statement from the regional leaders detailed.