Analysis: Drops of climate finance start to fill an ocean of need

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 22 (Reuters) – The biggest deal to date to forge the kind of private-public sector low-carbon collaboration sought at U.N. climate talks promises $20 billion to shut down Indonesian coal-fired power plants – and it’s a drop in the ocean.

Estimates of how much external funding emerging nations need to adapt to the ravages of climate change are around $1 trillion a year by 2030, one report released during the COP27 conference that ended at the weekend found.

Most of the deals sealed on the sidelines were relatively small, though the Egyptian hosts, who retain oversight of the U.N. process until COP28 in the United Arab Emirates next year, hope to have laid the foundations for more.

“When you see the announcements, it never feels significant enough. And pretty much as soon as the announcements are made, there’s that feeling that … it’s a drop in the ocean of what’s required,” said Rob Doepel, UK and Ireland Managing Partner for Sustainability at consultants EY.

The Indonesian deal, announced at G20 talks in Indonesia that overlapped with COP27, brings together public and private money and is more than double the $8.5 billion pledged for a similar agreement with South Africa at climate talks in 2021.

Both are badged as a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JET-P) – one of the many types of…