Oil Change International response to NCQG and Mitigation Working Programme texts at COP29

In response to the latest NCQG text, Laurie van der Burg, Oil Change International Global Public Finance Manager, said:

“The draft climate finance deal is a mixed bag with good, bad and ugly options. Rich countries now have a last chance to step up to pay the climate debt they owe to the Global South and unlock a fair and funded fossil fuel phaseout, while barring dangerous distractions. Wealthy nations must support delivering the trillions urgently needed in public finance with the majority provided debt-free, which is currently on the table.

“Labelling carbon credits as climate finance – which they are unreservedly not – should be axed from the text or risk creating a dangerous escape route for polluters. The same goes for explicitly allowing investments in fossil fuel infrastructure. This is fundamentally incompatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“Instead, we need to end fossil fuel handouts, make polluters pay, and change unfair financial rules; which too is on the table. We know that by taking these steps rich countries can mobilise trillions in public funds for climate action and a fair fossil fuel phaseout. In these last hours of COP29, rich countries must meet their responsibilities and get on the right side of history.”

In response to the draft Mitigation Work Programme text, David Tong, Oil Change International Global Industry Campaign Manager, said:

“Ambition has gone missing in the Mitigation Work Programme. Reaffirming last year’s breakthrough Global Stocktake agreement in other draft negotiating texts makes it clear that the commitment to transition away from fossil fuels is not going away. But we need much more – like countries putting an immediate end to new fossil fuel expansion in their NDCs.

“Thanks to tireless advocacy from frontline communities, we have unprecedented momentum to end the fossil fuel era. But without proper funding, we risk a chaotic transition that deepens inequalities and leaves workers and vulnerable communities behind. The transition has to move forward to save lives and avoid breaching critical climate limits. Rich nations must deliver the trillions urgently needed in public climate finance to ensure it’s fast, fair and just – while also moving first to drive the global transition away from fossil fuels.”