New Delhi: India has contributed $1.28 billion in climate finance in 2022 to stop climate change. India's contribution through multilateral development banks is more than the contribution of some developed countries.

12 developed countries give their fair share of climate finance

An analysis by UK-based think tank ODI and the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance says that only 12 developed countries have contributed their fair share of international climate finance in 2022. These include countries like Norway, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Finland.

Researchers say that the reason for the significant shortfall in climate finance is the US not contributing its fair share. At the same time, Australia, Spain, Canada and Britain have also performed worse than expected on this front. The analysis identified the top 30 high-income and industrially developed countries that have provided adequate climate finance to developing countries in 2022. This group includes economies like Poland and Russia, which are currently going through a transition period.

Also included in this group are countries that have been granted high-income status since 1992, such as Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, and middle-income countries with large populations - Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Pakistan.

These countries contributed their share

Developed countries such as Greece have contributed $0.23 billion, Portugal $0.23 billion, Ireland $0.3 billion and New Zealand $0.27 billion in climate finance in 2022. China has contributed $2.52 billion through multilateral banks, Brazil $1.35 billion, South Korea $1.31 billion and Argentina $1.01 billion.

Developed countries collectively pledged to contribute $100 billion annually to climate finance by 2020 at Copenhagen climate talks COP15 in 2009. This amount is meant to help developing countries prevent climate change and deal with its impact.

Collective contribution means that no single developed country can be asked to contribute a fixed amount. That is why other developing countries including India are insisting on a system to increase the accountability of developed countries on the front of contributing to climate finance.