"We can no longer talk about small changes, or about short-changing the poor. We need answers and we need them fast," said Sunita Narain, director general, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Sunita stated that the most vulnerable countries today, which also require funding for climate mitigation, have a crushingly high debt burden, and that while the summit did not result in any transformational solutions, it did start a conversation about the climate and development financing crisis, which cannot be lost.

She was speaking about the just concluded Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, France, which was spearheaded by President Emmanuel Macron of France and attended by many leaders from the developing world and Europe.

The Summit attempted to address the paucity of funds flowing to poor and vulnerable countries as they deal with "a cocktail of interconnected crises," as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called it: poverty, debt, and inflation caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as escalating climate impacts.

According to Avantika Goswami, CSE's programme manager for climate change, who also attended the Summit, countries in the Global South are in debt and are under pressure to decarbonize their economy without enough climate finance.

“The Summit was never expected to solve these problems in a day and a half, but it has started a crucial conversation. It shone a spotlight on the scale of these crises, the clear demands from countries of the Global South, and the pathways of action that the Global North is choosing to advocate for.”

Avantika emphasizes the magnitude of the situation by referencing Summit attendees, particularly Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who stated that African countries are suffering unprecedented budget constraints. Debt, both public and private, has reached new heights.

“Inflation in almost all commodities has risen sharply, and today daily meals are the biggest issue for many Africans.”

Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, issued a rallying call, stating that the poor world is falling in debt and hence vulnerable, and that developing countries are people, countries, and need similar respect.

“The UK took a hundred years to repay its debt for World War I; Germany had all the benefits of being able to have its debt service capped at 3 to 5 percent of its GDP in order to rebuild after World War II.”

What do governments in the Global South want?

According to Nirmala Sitharaman, India's finance minister, as stated by CSE, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) are "being asked by non-borrowing shareholders to address transboundary challenges in addition to their core development mandate."

However, Avantika stated that this will put further strain on MDB resources, adding that developed countries want to squeeze more out of existing MDB resources while simultaneously incorporating climate into the Banks' mandate.

“Developed countries are resistant to paying more money from their budgets and also risking more influence from large economies such as India and China if their paid-in share rises.”

Countries in the Global South are requesting additional concessional and grant finance, as well as debt reductions in developing countries, including debt cancellations for the least developed countries.

Deals like the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP) must also take into account each country's circumstances, the requirements of workers and communities, and development aims to combat poverty and unemployment, as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated.

He stated that the government must be flexible enough to recognize that some fossil fuel generation may need to continue in order to meet the country's basic energy demands. They must also provide appropriate funding.

“In the case of South Africa, for instance, the financing of US $8.5 billion that has been offered is far below the country’s estimated need of US $98 billion.”

Kenya has advocated for a global finance structure free of national or shareholder interests, while Brazil has questioned why it must trade in dollars rather than its own currency.

What was announced at the Summit?

The Summit did not reach complete agreement on a contentious MDB Vision Statement document. Separately, it was announced that an additional $200 billion in lending capacity will be made available to emerging economies.

The World Bank approved disaster clauses for debt agreements, which would stop debt payments in the event of severe weather. The Bank also announced the establishment of a Private Sector Investment Lab to "develop and rapidly scale solutions that address the barriers that are preventing the private sector from investing - at scale - in emerging markets and developing countries, with a specific focus on renewable energy and energy infrastructure."

The IMF stated that vulnerable countries have received US $100 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDRs). The'recycling' of SDRs from rich countries with central banks that do not require the cushioning to poor countries that do or MDBs that can route them has been advocated as a way to increase the amount of concessional funding available to developing countries.

Senegal has signed a new Euro 2.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) agreement with a consortium of developed countries, with the goal of increasing the share of renewable energy in installed capacity to 40% of Senegal's electricity mix by 2030.

Many organizations advocated for a charge on shipping emissions. This issue is expected to gain pace at the International Maritime Organization convention in July. A financial transactions tax is also gaining popularity.

Colombia and Kenya have proposed a Global Expert Review on Debt, Nature, and Climate to "assess the impact of debt on the capacity of low- and medium-income countries to preserve nature, adapt to climate change, and decarbonize their economies."

The EU issued a call to action on "Paris Aligned Carbon Markets," with the goal of covering at least 60% of global emissions with carbon pricing mechanisms (up from 4% presently) and devoting a share of the income to climate finance.

It has been suggested that the long-delayed US $100 billion climate funding objective will be met this year.

Narain & Avantika responses

According to Narain, every climate change disaster causes the Global South countries to become more indebted as they borrow to survive and rebuild, and that this year, countries must discuss structural issues that underpin the world's vast inequities, which ensure that countries in the Global South cannot afford the cost of adaptation or mitigation.

“And we need to find the money and we need to do this fast."

According to Goswami, the Paris Summit demonstrated that the developing world's aspirations appear to be falling on deaf ears.

“Peddling false solutions, offering piecemeal and inadequate debt relief efforts, and shifting the onus to the private sector was the plan that developed countries offered in Paris.”

Few results emerged

Rich countries were hesitant to meet the Global South's primary demands for debt relief and increased climate money.

The two-day meeting, which attempted to accelerate reform initiatives aimed at releasing the trillions of funds needed to combat climate change, did, however, provide a feeling of increased momentum.

Despite some progress, the Paris meeting finished on Friday without addressing the underlying issues blocking developing countries from investing in development and climate measures, particularly their crushing debt levels.