AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The United Nations' Climate Conference in Azerbaijan has ended with an agreement by rich countries to triple their previous pledge to developing nations to help them cope with climate change. But critics say all that money is still not enough. Jeff Brady from NPR's Climate Desk joins us now. Good morning, Jeff.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Good morning.
RASCOE: This meeting was all about the money, so let's dig into the numbers. What did the negotiators agree to?
BRADY: Wealthy countries, which are responsible for putting most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere now - they agreed to compensate developing nations $300 billion a year. They contributed far less - these developing nations contributed far less to climate change but are suffering a lot of the consequences. And this money - it won't go out right away. Negotiators agreed to reach that level by 2035.
But these developing countries say climate change will cost them much more than that. And beyond the financing, developing countries were angry about how this deal got approved. It happened quickly, early in the morning in Baku. India's representative, Chandni Raina, said her country was not allowed to make a statement before the decision was finalized.
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CHANDNI RAINA: This has been stage managed, and we are extremely, extremely disappointed with this incident.
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BRADY: She called the level of financing that rich countries agreed to a paltry sum.
RASCOE: So how are those rich countries responding to the new agreement?
BRADY: You know, the United States had pushed for a smaller number, $250 billion a year. President Biden, though, called this deal ambitious and said it will help speed the transition to cleaner economies. European Union Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra echoed his support for the new agreement.
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WOPKE HOEKSTRA: And we feel it is ambitious, it is needed, it is realistic, and it is achievable. And we are confident that this will be a tale of delivery.
BRADY: Now, we've talked mostly about government money so far, but there's also private money going into developing countries through this deal.
RASCOE: President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to pull the country out of the Paris climate Agreement again. What role did that play in these negotiations?
BRADY: You know, President-elect Trump and what he'll do came up less than I imagined it would before these negotiations started. Pulling out of the Paris Agreement - that takes time. It's a yearlong process, so the U.S. should be at the next conference in Brazil. But also the federal government is not the only U.S. presence at these climate negotiations. There are corporations and states and cities that all have their own climate plans, and those aren't going to change with the next administration.
RASCOE: So all this work is aimed at reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. How is the world doing on that front?
BRADY: Not great - the goal of the Paris climate Agreement was to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. That's 2.7 Fahrenheit. Right now, we're not on track to do that. The U.S. goal, for example, is to cut climate pollution in half by 2030. Even after the Biden administration's work on climate change, the country is at about 40%.
Countries have started releasing these ambitious climate plans to cut pollution. The United Kingdom and Brazil announced their goals during this conference, and the Biden administration is expected to announce U.S. targets soon before February deadline.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Jeff Brady. Thank you so much, Jeff.
BRADY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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