Every year the WRI hosts a webinar titled “Stories to Watch”. On January 30, 2025, WRI president Ani Dasgupta introduced the topic with a devastating realization: The Paris Climate Agreement was adopted 10 years ago, but today we have failed on all counts. He pointed out that the fact that the US left the Paris Agreement will not stop the climate hitting the US. Currently, the money is not flowing to the countries who need it most.

Agreements given at COP 29 are not sufficient by far

At COP29, wealthy nations agreed to raise annual climate finance from $100 billion (by 2020) to $300 billion by 2035 for developing nations.
Yet, experts contend that this figure is merely a starting point. The real requirement is around $1.3 trillion per year by 2035—a sum that reflects the gap between what vulnerable countries can finance domestically for things like clean energy development and climate-smart agriculture, and what is needed to build resilience and drive low-carbon growth.

For Ani Dasgupta, there is no doubt: “It will be extremely difficult to secure the $1.3 trillion. But make no mistake: We must do it.” And he clearly points out that climate finance is framed not as charity, but as an essential investment in global security and justice.

Public and private financing is needed

The WRI president points out that at least the have of the $1.3 trilling must come from private capital. But it will be difficult to make this amount flow to the right places. Low-carbon investments in developing nations are still considered to be risky and expensive.
So he proposes to use “smart policies” to unlock private investments. Examples for these policies that de-risk private investments may be China’s green industry policies, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and India’s renewable energy roadmap. However, US President Donald Trump has recently paused the IRA funding.

Read the full insight article here.