By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Oct 8 2025 – Once a year, the COP presidency or the role held by the Minister of Environment from the host government at a Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting, sets out on an ambitious, year-long journey in hopes of delivering the climate deal of a lifetime.

A deal that could stop and reverse the negative shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, such as intense flooding and prolonged drought, currently wreaking havoc all over the world, leading to loss of life, damage and destruction to property and a real threat of whole territories being wiped off the map.

Over the years, climate action or initiatives and measures to stop or at least reduce this loss and damage, has expanded, with companies setting out to reduce and ultimately end emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere, cities launching local measures to better cope with climate change, and indigenous communities restoring damaged ecosystems.

But these and many other replicable solutions are ongoing in isolation in every corner of the world. The COP30 presidency, now in the hands of Brazil, is working jointly with the UN Climate High-Level Champions team to ensure that in all matters climate, the right hand will, at all times and in real time, know what the left is doing.

A first in the history of COP, they have jointly developed and launched the Granary of Solutions, a platform that features concrete actions and instructive case studies designed to drive progress for people, the climate, and the global economy. The platform showcases a wide range of initiatives already driving change in various corners of the world. While many of the links are not yet populated, the aim is to provide an easily searchable database of climate fixes.

From weather information systems co-created with local communities to private-sector innovations in marine biofuels for cleaner shipping to subnational government actions that combine conservation, restoration, and sustainable production, these examples will showcase practical solutions delivering real-world results for people on the frontlines of climate change.

In other words, it is a showroom of successful climate action or initiatives and measures taken by individuals, communities, companies and governments to address climate change and its devastating impacts. Built on hundreds of initiatives and coalitions launched since COP21 in Paris, the granary brings together existing solutions and is open to the new contributions of best practices.

The granary is informed by the mantra that action leads to more action and that the more people learn about high-impact solutions to climate change, the more likely they are to do the same in their communities. This way, the UN and COP30 presidency believe the global community will accelerate and scale up solutions and impact in line with the Global Stocktake and the goals of the Paris agreement, adopted during COP21.

The global stocktake is a UN report card released after a periodic review of the world’s collective progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement. The first report card was completed during COP28 in 2023, after a global inventory of ongoing measures to meet the climate crisis demand as outlined in the Paris Agreement.

The agreement has 196 Parties, comprising 195 countries plus the European Union. It is a legally binding international treaty adopted within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the goal of limiting global warming.

UNFCCC is the multilateral, involving many parties, environmental agreement adopted in 1992 to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system. It is the parent agreement for other key international climate agreements, such as the Paris Agreement, that primarily seek to ensure global average temperatures do not rise above pre-industrial levels.

This agreement is critical, as it changed how climate change is discussed and addressed by shifting from a top-bottom approach and opening the door for cities, regions, investors, businesses and civil society to contribute more directly as opposed to just governments. It is within this context that many different actors can contribute to the granary of solutions and help close the gaps identified in the 2023 UN’s global stocktake.

Home to real, replicable solutions that are already delivering impact, the granary of solutions is meant to be a trusted source to speed up global climate action. Only practical climate actions that align with the global stocktake and the Paris Agreement are included.

Experience of the past decade has shown that while the UNFCCC has broadened participation and resulted in significant progress in achieving global climate goals, it has not led to stronger coordination, clearer delivery, and more consistent support to boost action all over the world. The granary will connect efforts across countries and sectors.

It will also be the springboard for the COP30 action agenda. Since COP21, when the Paris Agreement was reached, every COP has established an agenda or a set of issues on the table for negotiation in line with the Paris Agreement and the overall UNFCCC goal.

It is this agenda of negotiations that then produces the annual COP agreement adopted by all the countries party to the Paris Agreement and is valid as international law. Importantly, the Action Agenda also engages actors who do not negotiate agreements, yet are essential for putting them into practice.

Drawing from the first global stocktake and the granary of solutions, the COP30 action agenda is a comprehensive framework or unified plan to mobilize all actors around new and existing initiatives designed to meet the climate crisis demands in the next five years. The next UN global stocktake will be implemented in 2028, as the process is designed to occur every five years.

Against this backdrop, the COP30 agenda is organized around six key areas: transitioning energy, industry, and transport; stewarding forests, oceans, and biodiversity; transforming agriculture and food systems; building resilience for cities, infrastructure, and water; and fostering human and social development.

Other issues, such as finance, technology, and capacity building, are considered cross-cutting. In all, objectives range from tripling renewable energy capacity and halting deforestation to achieving universal access to clean cooking and ensuring safe, sustainable and equitable water systems.

Through these six key areas, the COP30 agenda speaks directly to the first Global Stocktake by translating its findings into concrete solutions such as providing finance, technology and capacity building to undertake the climate actions or initiatives that can reduce or prevent climate change to hasten the implementation of the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the overall goals of the UNFCCC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Note: This explainer is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

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By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 8 2025 – In recent years, international climate financing has declined sharply, leaving billions of people in developing nations increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and unable to adapt effectively. With major cuts in foreign aid, these communities are expected to face the brunt of the climate crisis, while wealthier nations continue to reap economic benefits.

A new report from Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Center, Climate Finance Shadow Report 2025: Analyzing Progress on Climate Finance Under the Paris Agreement, showcases the significant gaps in climate financing for developing countries in the Global South, and the far-reaching implications for climate resilience and global preparedness.

This comes ahead of the 30th United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP30), in which world leaders, diplomats, and civil society groups will converge in Belém, Brazil, from November 10–21, to discuss strategies to strengthen global cooperation, advance inclusive and sustainable development, and accelerate efforts to address the climate crisis. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states that there will be a major focus on allocating public funds for mitigation and adaptation efforts in developing countries, aiming to mobilize at least USD 300 billion annually by 2035 for developing countries and a yearly USD 1.3 trillion over the same period.

In the report, CARE and Oxfam found that developing countries are paying disproportionately high disbursements to wealthy nations in exchange for comparatively modest climate finance loans—spending about seven dollars for every five dollars they receive in return. This, compounded with “the most vicious foreign aid cuts since the 1960s”, shows a nearly 9 percent drop in climate funding in 2024, which is projected to drop by a further 9-17 percent in 2025.

“Rich countries are failing on climate finance and they have nothing like a plan to live up to their commitments to increase support. In fact, many wealthy countries are gutting aid, leaving the poorest to pay the price, sometimes with their lives” said John Norbo, Senior Climate Advisor at CARE Denmark. “COP30 must deliver justice, not another round of empty promises.”

As of 2022, developed nations reported pledging approximately USD 116 billion in climate funding for developing countries. However, the actual amount delivered is less than one-third of the pledged total — estimated at only USD 28–35 billion. Nearly 70 percent of this funding came in the form of loans, often issued at standard rates of interest without concessions. As a result, wealthy nations are driving developing countries deeper into debt, despite these nations contributing the least to the climate crisis and lacking the resources to manage its impacts.

It is estimated that developing countries are indebted by approximately USD 3.3 trillion. In 2022, developing countries received roughly USD 62 billion in climate loans, which is projected to produce over USD 88 billion for wealthy countries, yielding a 42 percent profit for creditors. The countries issuing the highest concessional loans in climate financing were France, Japan, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

“Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering.”

Despite wealthy nations issuing high loans to developing countries, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) received only 19.5 percent of the total public climate funding over 2021-2022, while Small Island Developing States (SIDs) received roughly 2.9 percent. Only 33 percent of this funding went toward climate adaptation, a “critically underfunded” measure according to Oxfam, as the majority of creditors favor investing in mitigation efforts that deliver faster financial returns. Additionally, only 3 percent of this funding went to gender equality efforts, despite women and girls being disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis.

The report also underscores the dire impacts of the misallocation of climate financing and funding cuts, as vulnerable communities in particularly climate-sensitive environments find themselves with far fewer resources to adapt to natural disasters.

In 2024, communities in the Horn of Africa were ravaged by brutal cycles of droughts and flooding, which displaced millions of civilians and pushed tens of millions into food insecurity. In Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, massive floods caused over 180 civilian deaths, displaced 600,000 people, and the resulting damage led to billions of dollars in losses. According to figures from UNICEF, around 35 million children in Bangladesh experienced school disruptions in 2024 due to heatwaves, cyclones, and floods, posing serious risks to their long-term development. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that global temperatures are on course to rise to a “catastrophic” 3°C by the end of the century, with extreme weather events expected to intensify further.

Ahead of the COP30 conference, Oxfam has urged wealthy nations to honor their climate finance commitments, including the delivery of the full USD 600 billion pledged for the 2020–2025 period, aligning with the UN’s target of mobilizing USD 300 billion annually. The organization also called for a substantial increase in global funding for climate adaptation and loss management, alongside the implementation of higher taxes on the wealthiest individuals and fossil fuel companies—which could generate an estimated USD 400 billion per year. Additionally, Oxfam emphasized the need for developed countries to stop deepening the debt of climate-vulnerable nations by expanding the share of grants and highly concessional financing instead of standard loans.

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By Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Center
THE HAGUE, Netherlands , Oct 8 2025 – New research by Oxfam and the CARE Climate Justice Centre finds developing countries are now paying more back to wealthy nations for climate finance loans than they receive—for every USD 5 they receive, they are paying USD 7 back, and 65 percent of funding is delivered in the form of loans.

This form of crisis profiteering by rich countries is worsening debt burdens and hindering climate action. Compounding this failure, deep cuts to foreign aid threaten to slash climate finance further, betraying the world’s poorest communities, who are facing the brunt of escalating climate disasters.

Some key findings of the report:

• • Rich countries claim to have mobilized USD 116 billion in climate finance in 2022, but the true value is only around USD 28–35 billion, less than a third of the pledged amount.
  • Nearly two-thirds of climate finance was made as loans, often at standard rates of interest without concessions. As a result, climate finance is adding more each year to developing countries’ debt, which now stands at USD 3.3 trillion. Countries like France, Japan, and Italy are among the worst culprits.
  • Least Developed Countries got only 19.5 percent and Small Island Developing States 2.9 percent of total public climate finance over 2021-2022 and half of that was in the form of loans they have to repay.
  • Developed nations are profiting from these loans, with repayments outstripping disbursements. In 2022, developing countries received USD 62 billion in climate loans. We estimate these loans to lead to repayments of up to USD 88 billion, resulting in a 42 percent ‘profit’ for creditors.
  • Only 3 percent of finance is specifically aimed at enhancing gender equality, despite the climate crisis disproportionately impacting women and girls.

“Rich countries are treating the climate crisis as a business opportunity, not a moral obligation,” said Oxfam’s Climate Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi. “They are lending money to the very people they have historically harmed, trapping vulnerable nations in a cycle of debt. This is a form of crisis profiteering.”

This failure is occurring as rich countries are conducting the most vicious foreign aid cuts since the 1960s. Data by the OECD shows a 9 percent drop in 2024, with 2025 projections signaling a further 9–17% cut.

As the impacts of fossil fuel-fueled climate disasters intensify—displacing millions of people in the Horn of Africa, battering 13 million more in the Philippines, and flooding 600,000 people in Brazil in 2024 alone—communities in low-income countries are left with fewer resources to adapt to the rapidly changing climate.

“Rich countries are failing on climate finance and they have nothing like a plan to live up to their commitments to increase support. In fact, many wealthy countries are gutting aid, leaving the poorest to pay the price, sometimes with their lives,” said John Norbo, Senior Climate Advisor at CARE Denmark. “COP30 must deliver justice, not another round of empty promises.”

Adaptation funding is also critically underfunded, receiving only 33 percent of climate finance, as investors favor mitigation projects with more immediate financial returns.

Ahead of COP30, Oxfam and CARE are calling on rich countries to:

Live up to climate finance commitments: Provide the full USD 600 billion for 2020–2025 and clearly outline how they plan to scale up to the agreed USD 300 billion annually, and lead on the USD 1.3 trillion Baku to Belém roadmap.

• • Stop crisis profiteering: Drastically increase the share of grants and highly concessional finance to prevent further indebting the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities.
  • Multiply adaptation finance: Commit to at least triple adaptation finance by 2030, using the COP26 goal to double adaptation financing by 2025 as a baseline.
  • Provide finance for loss and damage: The global Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage must be adequately capitalized. Victims of climate change must not continue to be ignored.
  • Mobilize new sources of finance: Raise funds by taxing the super-rich, which in OECD countries alone can raise 1.2 trillion a year, and the excess profit of fossil fuel companies globally, which could raise 400 billion per year annually.

You can read the full report here.

The CARE Climate Justice Center (CJC) leads and coordinates the integration of climate justice and resilience across CARE International’s development and humanitarian work. The CJC is an initiative powered by CARE Denmark, CARE France, CARE Germany, CARE Netherlands, and CARE International UK.

Results of a global survey by Oxfam International and Greenpeace show 8 out of 10 people support paying for public services and climate action through taxing the super-rich.

The research was conducted by first-party data company Dynata in May-June 2025, in Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Kenya, Italy, India, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US.

The survey had approximately 1 200 respondents per country, with a margin of error of +-2.83%. Together, these countries represent close to half the world’s population.

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Excerpt:

Nearly two-thirds of climate finance was made as loans, often at standard rates of interest without concessions, research by Oxfam and CARE Climate Justice Centre has found.