As the deadline to agree on a new climate finance goal nears, developed nations are pushing to expand the list of countries responsible for contributing funds to help developing countries address climate change, with Switzerland even proposing criteria to broaden the donor base.

Submissions made by some developed countries to the UNFCCC regarding negotiations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) — the new climate finance goal to be finalised in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November — suggest that wealthy nations might pressure countries with high emissions and high gross national income (GNI) per capita, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, to contribute.

Negotiators from developing countries say a discussion on broadening the climate finance contributor base goes far beyond the mandate for NCQG and could stall negotiations at COP29.

According to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), high-income industrialised nations are responsible for providing finance and technology to help developing countries combat and adapt to climate change.

These countries include the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and European Union member states such as Germany, France and the UK. Some developed countries, led by the EU and the US, argue that the global economic landscape has changed significantly since 1992.

They suggest that nations that have become wealthier during this period, like China and some Gulf States, should also contribute to the new climate finance goal.

Developing countries view this as an attempt to shift responsibility from those who have historically benefited from industrialisation and contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions.

They argue that expecting them to contribute, especially when many are still struggling with poverty and inadequate infrastructure, undermines the principle of equity.