A landmark international plan unveiled Friday sets an ambitious goal of mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 to finance climate action in developing countries.
The “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,” released ahead of COP30, outlines a sweeping blueprint to transform global financial systems to support low-emission, climate-resilient growth.
Adopted under the New Collective Quantified Goal at COP29 in Baku, the roadmap represents the most significant reconfiguration of climate finance targets since the Paris Agreement.
It marks a shift from billions to trillions, with commitments from public and private sources to meet the growing cost of mitigation, adaptation, and just transitions.
“The $1.3 trillion goal is not just a number—it is a statement of collective resolve,” said Mukhtar Babayev, CMA6 President. “With strategic redirection of resources and fair global cooperation, this target is both achievable and essential.”
CMA6 is an abbreviation for the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement at its sixth session.
From Baku to Belém: A Bridge Between Summits
The roadmap follows the Baku Finance Goal, which calls for a unified effort to scale climate finance for developing nations. Building on that momentum, COP30 in Belém will evaluate whether current national climate plans and adaptation commitments align with the 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.
“This roadmap is a bridge between commitment and delivery,” said André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, CMA7 President. “It transforms the Paris Agreement from promise into implementation.”
The plan draws on over 227 submissions from governments, financial institutions, academia, and civil society. It proposes five interconnected “action fronts,” known as the 5Rs, to guide progress: Replenishing concessional finance, Rebalancing fiscal space, Rechanneling private capital, Revamping institutional capacity, and Reshaping global systems for equitable capital flows.
Financing Pathways and Estimates
To reach the $1.3 trillion annual goal, the roadmap identifies potential funding sources:
- $380 billion in public finance, including bilateral aid and multilateral contributions.
- $650 billion in cross-border private finance.
- $230 billion from innovative mechanisms such as carbon markets, voluntary levies, debt swaps, and philanthropy.
- $40 billion in South-South cooperation.
These figures, while preliminary, mark the first comprehensive attempt to quantify global pathways to scaled-up finance. Experts noted that such a coordinated push could double current levels of international climate funding within a decade.
Urgency and Accountability
The roadmap warns that progress remains far too slow. International adaptation finance stood at just $26 billion in 2023, far below the estimated $310 billion – $365 billion needed annually by 2035 for developing nations. Without acceleration, climate vulnerability will deepen, pushing countries toward higher debt burdens and volatility.
To ensure accountability, the report outlines timelines for biennial reviews, starting in 2027, and a global stocktake by 2030. These mechanisms will assess contributions by multilateral banks, private investors, and national governments toward the 1.3T target.
Equity, Access and Inclusion
Central to the plan is improving access to finance for the most vulnerable—Small Island Developing States, Least Developed Countries, Indigenous Peoples, and women-led communities. Traditional eligibility criteria often exclude them from concessional funding, the report notes.
“Climate finance must be both inclusive and just,” Corrêa do Lago said. “It should empower those most affected by the crisis to be part of the solution.”
The document proposes adopting multi-dimensional vulnerability indices, simplifying project approval cycles and using blended finance models to unlock local capital.
Multilateral climate funds are urged to triple their annual disbursements from 2022 levels by 2030.
Leveraging Private Capital
Private finance is expected to provide nearly half of the total goal. The report calls for reforms to reduce the cost of capital in developing nations, including adjustments to credit ratings that reflect climate resilience and policy stability.
Remittances, valued at $685 billion in 2024, are highlighted as a potential catalyst for household-level adaptation investments.
Similarly, new carbon market frameworks under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement could lower implementation costs by $250 billion annually.
Innovation and Governance
The roadmap recommends enhanced collaboration between multilateral banks and philanthropic institutions to fund early-stage climate projects. It also advocates the use of artificial intelligence-based monitoring systems to improve transparency and track concessionality in real time.
Governments are encouraged to explore new international levies, while the IMF is urged to expand and rechannel special drawing rights toward sustainability trusts.
Adaptation, Nature, and Just Transitions
Sector-specific pathways are detailed for adaptation, clean energy, agriculture, and just transitions. By 2035, developing countries will require an estimated $300 billion per year to make private industries resilient to climate impacts.
The report emphasizes that finance must extend beyond mitigation to social equity. It proposes sustainability-linked bonds tied to just transition targets and capacity-building programs to retrain workers from fossil fuel sectors.
“Every dollar must strengthen both resilience and fairness,” Babayev said. “Our transition must leave no one behind.”
A Call for Global Cooperation
The roadmap concludes with a call for a “Global Mutirão for Humanity and the Planet”— a term meaning collective effort, inviting governments, institutions and citizens to participate in a shared response to the climate crisis.
“The science is clear, and the resources exist,” the co-presidents said in their joint statement. “What remains is the will to act. This decade will decide whether we transform or decline.”
As COP30 approaches, the Baku to Belém Roadmap positions climate finance not merely as an enabler of ambition but as the cornerstone of a livable and just future.
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