COP29 live: Climate summit faces fight for money as time runs out in Baku

How to raise a trillion dollarspublished at 10:42 GMT

Justin Rowlatt
Climate editor in Baku

Climate activists took part in a protest at the UN climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. — Image caption,

Climate activists stage a protest in Baku

A million seconds is 11 and a half days. A billion seconds is 31 years. A trillion seconds is equal to 31,688 years. A trillion is a lot of money.

Richer countries currently pay developing countries just over $40 billion (£31.9 billion) a year to fight climate change. They’ll probably raise that amount a little, but not by much.

The same is again coming from the international development banks – the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and others.

They can and should bring in more money, many financial experts say.

These institutions can borrow very cheaply from international markets and can therefore issue more loans at low rates.

It is said that this could raise around $200 billion in climate finance.

Two engineers with solar panel — Image caption,

Solar and wind energy are playing an increasingly important role in Africa.

Meanwhile, clean energy in developing countries has the potential to bring greater benefits.

If some of the cash was used to reduce high interest rates and other risks facing private investors in developing countries, it could unlock another $500bn (£395.7bn) a year, some economists say.

We could raise a few more billions a year if we could get a few more countries to contribute to this bank – China, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not currently doing so.

Other innovative ideas are discussed at this conference – taxes on aviation, shipping, a tax on billionaires. They may be visionaries, but each of them can raise tens of billions of dollars a year.

So while a trillion is actually a very large sum, the prospect of collecting it may not be as alarming as it seems.