By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Developed nations may have achieved their overdue promise of $100 billion to help poorer countries cope with climate change in 2022, the OECD said on Thursday, an estimate that may muster some political goodwill on the eve of the COP28 climate summit.
In 2009, developed countries promised that from 2020 they would transfer $100 billion a year to poorer nations hit by worsening climate change-fuelled disasters. Rich countries had previously signalled the target would not be met until 2023.
The goal is politically symbolic and failure to meet it has stoked mistrust in past talks, hampering deals to tackle climate change as developing countries argue the world's economic powers are abandoning them. The United Nations' COP28 climate summit starts in Dubai on Nov. 30.
Poorer nations say they cannot invest in cleaner energy or adapt to extreme weather without more support from rich nations whose historical fossil fuel burning caused climate change.
"Based on preliminary and as yet unverified data, the goal looks likely to have already been met as of 2022," said Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Germany and Canada, co-chairs of an international drive to ensure the $100 billion target is met, said the statement was "a welcome update" while noting global climate finance needs were large and rapidly growing.
"We need action and cooperation from all actors – domestic, international, public and private – to shift the trillions of dollars required to transition to a net-zero and climate-resilient world," they said in an open letter.
The OECD said poor nations' actual climate investment needs could total $1 trillion per year by 2025.
"The delivery of the $100 billion is vitally important," said Tina Stege, climate envoy for the Marshall Islands, a nation vulnerable to rising sea levels.
"From building sea walls to adapt to climate change, to installing renewables, to helping people rebuild their lives and livelihoods if they're forced to move – all of these things cost money," she said.
The OECD confirmed the target was not met in 2021. That year, wealthy nations provided $89.6 billion, an 8% increase from 2020 levels.
Most of the 2021 money - $73 billion - was public finance and, of this, more than two thirds was loans.
The OECD said this funding had so far failed to mobilise substantial private capital, which is needed to cover the climate investment gap.
(Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa;Editing by Alexander Smith and David Gregorio)
