The United States, Australia and Canada fell far short. But the Washington-based World Resources Institute calculated that only a handful of rich countries, including France, Japan, Norway, Germany and Sweden, provided a fair share. There is no set formula for how much each country should contribute toward the total, or how.
The failure to deliver on a promise first made in 2009 has caused deep anger and distrust among poor nations, with some threatening to block any agreement until the money is provided. Estimates for 2019 show the funding was just shy of $80 billion. The pledge by rich countries to mobilize US$100 billion each year for poor nations to cope with climate change was likely missed in 2020. Sign up here to receive The Climate Barometer, delivering climate and environmental news to your inbox every week.Here are five of the top issues that will need to be tackled in Glasgow: The talks that start Sunday in Scotland were always bound to be tense, but the coronavirus pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis and the recent energy crunch have put even more pressure on the two-week meeting.
This year's UN climate summit renews an urgent question to the international community: Can the world come together to confront the common enemy of global warming before it's too late?
