Pirate's Cove

Obviously, the elites flying on their expensive private jets to climate conferences aren’t going to pay

Nations are seeking ways to raise the big money needed to tackle climate change

Just as a simple lever can move heavy objects, rich nations are hoping another kind of leverage — the financial sort — can help them come up with the money that poorer nations need to cope with climate change.

It involves a complex package of grants, loans and private investment, and it’s becoming the major currency at annual United Nations climate talks known as COP29.

But poorer nations worry they’ll get the short end of the lever: not much money and plenty of debt.

Meanwhile, half a world away in Brazil, leaders of the 20 most powerful economies issued a statement that among other things gave support to strong financial aid for climate for poor nations and the use of leverage financial mechanisms. That was cheered by climate analysts and advocates.

Money is the key issue in Baku, where negotiators are working on a new amount of cash for developing nations to transition to clean energy, adapt to climate change and deal with weather disasters. It’ll replace the current goal of $100 billion annually — a goal set in 2009.

Let’s be honest: most of this money never makes it to the citizens of 3rd world shitholes developing nations: it ends up in the pockets of the rich, the politicians, the bureaucrats, and the well connected. Are these dirt poor citizens seeing any of the supposed benefits?

In these negotiations, rich potential donor nations have been reluctant to offer a starting figure to negotiate from. So Rafiyev said the conference presidency is putting the pressure on them, telling “the developed countries that the figure should be fair and ambitious, corresponding to the needs and priorities of the world.”

For all the money that’s been dumped into these developing nations they are still developing. None of it has really helped. Now it’s just money with no strings attached, because successful nations apparently owe these poor countries the money. Pretty nice scam, eh?

Analysts and activists said they were also worried because the G20 statement did not repeat the call for a transition away from fossil fuels, a hard-fought concession at last year’s climate talks.

Most of these 3rd world nations and 2nd world island nations would collapse back further without fossil fuels. Without fossil fuels tourism ends. Without it any exports and imports end. Have fun.