FRIEND GOOD MAN: We are broadcasting from the United Nations climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. Today, Friday, is the last official day of COP29, but it is unclear whether a final agreement will be reached before the deadline. Negotiations are expected to last until the weekend.

Climate justice activists are outraged at how little money is being offered here in so-called funding. COPfrom the most polluting nations to those most seriously affected by climate change. Azerbaijan’s delegation to the UN COP29 climate summit released the latest draft climate finance deal, calling for the provision of $1.3 trillion a year by 2035. But the text only calls for the richest countries , the most polluting countries, to pay 250 billion dollars per year. year to the poorest countries which are bearing the brunt of the crisis. The group War on Want called the latest plan an “insult”, adding that it is, quote, “far from living up to the grant-based public climate finance that the planet and people need.” urgent”, without quoting.

As negotiations continue, we begin our coverage with climate justice activists and civil society members who have demonstrated here to call on rich countries to pay for climate finance. It was right before we went to broadcast. Democracy now! was there.

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: We are not asking for help. We do not demand charity. We are here to demand justice. And this justice requires climate financing. How much do we want, comrades?

PROTESTERS: Billions, not billions! Billions, not billions!

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: My friends, the text they are talking about clearly does not meet the demands of the South. And now, to tell us more about the intersection of the climate crisis and the effects of ongoing war and genocide around the world, let me call on our comrade Haneen.

PROTESTERS: Build the loss and damage fund now! Build the loss and damage fund now!

HANEEN SHAHEEN: Now it’s only our fair share of equity. This is our fair share of equality. This is what we are asking. This is what we want. Pay now!

PROTESTERS: Pay now!

HANEEN SHAHEEN: Pay now!

PROTESTERS: Pay now!

HANEEN SHAHEEN: Pay now!

PROTESTERS: Pay now!

HANEEN SHAHEEN: It’s our money. You’ve been taking it for so long, hundreds of years, hundreds of years taking our resources, hundreds of years taking our land, occupying us, mixing wars with all your development, mixing war with private companies. And you don’t want us to get our money back. Give us back our land. Give us our share.

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: I am now calling Collin from OIC.

COLLIN REE: Pay! Pay!

PROTESTERS: Pay for climate finance! Pay! Pay! Pay for climate finance! Pay! Pay!

COLLIN REE: We are here to demand billions of dollars in public finances. This is not charity. It is a debt, an obligation that the North owes to the South. This is a legal obligation and we will not stop fighting until this obligation is met. We demand that this funding be public and of quality. This funding must be based on grants and their equivalents, not on loans, nor on things that put countries in the South further into debt and perpetuate this dangerous and deadly cycle. This financing must be of quality. It also doesn’t have to come from the private sector, because it’s the private sector that helped fuel this climate crisis, that helped get us into this mess. We cannot rely on the same corporations, the same rapacious banks that are causing the climate crisis, who are motivated by profit and not by human rights and justice.

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: What we are asking is not unreasonable. They are investing money in the fossil fuel industry. We know where the money is. We know where the funding is. And now, to discuss this further, I call upon our comrade Rimsha.

RIMHA REHAN: No more debts! No more loans! No more false solutions!

PROTESTERS: No more debts! No more loans! No more false solutions!

RIMHA REHAN: My dear friends, I come here from a country where lockdown is in effect. It’s not COVID no longer, but my children, my women and my young people are confined because of the resulting air pollution. And who is financing this climate crisis? All the northern countries are financing this. And we are always asking them for more loans to support our economic growth. They owe us. We owe them nothing. They owe it to us!

PROTESTERS: They owe it to us! We owe them nothing! They owe it to us! We owe them nothing!

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: We were told to remain silent, as if we were not repressed enough. Are we noisy?

PROTESTERS: No!

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: Are we loud enough?

PROTESTERS: No!

ARNOLD JASON LED ROSARIO: Perhaps we could sing one more song to him, my comrades. Billions, not billions!

PROTESTERS: Billions, not billions! Billions, not billions! Billions, not billions! Billions, not billions!

FRIEND GOOD MAN: These are just some of the voices calling on rich countries to step up climate finance, here at COP29.