New Collective Quantified Goal climate finance

The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is the climate finance target that succeeds the $100 billion-per-year commitment originally pledged by developed countries at COP15 in Copenhagen (2009) and reaffirmed in the Paris Agreement. Article 9.3 of the Paris Agreement instructed Parties to set a new collective goal "from a floor of USD 100 billion per year" before 2025, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries.

Negotiations on the NCQG began in 2021 under a dedicated ad hoc work programme established at COP26 in Glasgow and culminated at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024. The Baku outcome set a headline goal of at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 for developing countries, with developed countries "taking the lead." It also called on all actors to work together to scale up finance to developing countries from public and private sources to USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035 — a broader, multi-source layer often called the "Baku to Belém Roadmap," to be developed ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.

Key contested issues in the negotiations included:

• Contributor base: whether emerging economies such as China and the Gulf states should formally contribute, which developed countries pushed for and the G77+China resisted.
• Quality of finance: the balance of grants versus loans, and concerns about debt sustainability and double-counting of ODA.
• Thematic balance: shares for mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage.
• Transparency: how contributions are reported and tracked under the Enhanced Transparency Framework.

The outcome was sharply criticised by many developing-country negotiators, including the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group, as inadequate relative to assessed needs — the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance and independent expert groups had pointed to needs well above USD 1 trillion annually. India formally objected to the gavel decision. The NCQG nonetheless frames climate finance diplomacy through 2035 and shapes NDC ambition for the next cycle.