Is China a ‘developing’ country? That’s the trillion-dollar question at UN climate talks

livemint.com:

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BAKU, Azerbaijan—A few dozen miles from the United Nations climate conference here, a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates recently opened the region’s largest solar-power park. Nearby, a Saudi state-backed company is building a large wind farm.

Both projects break the mold of the Paris climate accord: They are funded by countries that are designated as developing nations, entitling them, in theory, to receive climate financing from developed nations. But, in practice, the oil-rich Gulf nations are increasingly investing in green projects in poorer countries—not mainly as a form of development aid but to make money. At this year’s U.N.

climate talks in Baku, known as COP29, the West is pushing to reorder the developed-developing divide that has governed climate negotiations since they began in 1992 with the first global-warming treaty signed in Rio de Janeiro. Western officials say the 1992-era distinction no longer makes sense, while big developing nations say such arguments amount to an attempt by developed nations to shirk their historical responsibility for climate change. The debate isn’t academic.

The categories lie at the center of negotiations aimed at transferring more than a trillion dollars a year from developed economies to the developing world. The Paris climate accord of 2015 said developing countries should channel $100 billion a year to the developing world through 2025, after which the funds should increase. Diplomats gathering in Baku are negotiating a new, larger target at this year’s conference.