One cannot help but notice the ingenious design of the official website for the ongoing 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), taking place in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20, 2026. The website features real-time counters displaying the numbers of births and deaths worldwide, as well as the amounts of waste generated and plastic consumed. These figures serve as a clear signal that climate change is an inescapable issue affecting people all around the world.
This year, Europe has weathered severe heatwaves, Indonesia has been plagued by wildfires, and Nepal has suffered devastating floods. According to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), each of the past 12 years has been among the warmest on record, with the four most recent years ranking as the four warmest.
Rising annual temperatures pose an increasingly deadly threat to human beings. According to the 2026 Global Report of the Lancet Countdown, approximately three million deaths worldwide were linked to high temperatures between 2015, when the Paris Agreement was signed, and 2023. About 68 percent of these deaths were attributable to climate change.
The report, therefore, calls for climate change to be declared a "global health emergency" and urges countries to fully integrate health considerations into their policy-making processes.
Attendees walk past the COP31 logo during the 31st United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP31) at the Antalya Expo Center in Antalya on November 12, 2026.
Against the concerning status quo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a Climate Justice Compact at the COP31 Leaders' Summit on November 11. The compact rests on four pillars, one of which is adequate, affordable and readily available finance. This underscores the urgent need to scale up climate finance.
First and foremost, climate finance should help mitigate and bridge the gap between developed and developing countries.
Under the agreement reached at COP29 in Baku, developed countries are expected to provide at least $300 billion annually by 2035 to scale up climate finance. Broader public and private financing efforts aim to mobilize $1.3 trillion per year for developing countries by that same year.
Since 2025, however, the US has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and scaled back its participation in international climate efforts, while many European countries have cut their foreign aid budgets. These developments have contributed to rising costs for climate adaptation and decarbonization in developing countries.
Developed countries must fulfill their pledges and, in Guterres' view, set out concrete plans with clear milestones to at least triple adaptation finance by 2035. These plans should include measures to deploy more innovative financing instruments to better address the needs and circumstances of vulnerable developing countries.
Meanwhile, countries in the Global South should strengthen their collaboration on climate finance to expand access to funding. They should also promote the adoption of cutting-edge technologies for climate monitoring and the development of solutions across their communities.
For a long time, the Global South has been regarded merely as a recipient of climate finance and technical assistance. This is an outdated perception. Global South countries are now fostering innovation clusters, supported by robust manufacturing capacities, a large pool of young talent, and, above all, their own financing institutions.
The New Development Bank (NDB) can play a more crucial role in climate finance. Over the 2022–2025 period, the NDB approved more than $5.5 billion in climate finance, accounting for 44 percent of its total financing. Approximately 70 percent of the Bank's climate finance supports mitigation activities, while the remaining 30 percent is directed toward adaptation. In 2025, the NDB approved $1.8 billion in climate finance, representing a record 57.1 percent of its total approvals for the year.
Its climate finance portfolio spans a wide range of sectors and project types, supporting the development of green technologies and innovative solutions. For example, NDB was among the earliest financiers of cost-effective offshore wind power development in China.
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, NDB has financed the country's first waste-to-energy facility. Meanwhile, in Brazil, it has supported the development of smart grids in the State of São Paulo, aiming to improve energy efficiency by reducing technical losses.
Low-carbon transport features prominently in the portfolio, with investments in metro systems and electric vehicles in India, for instance. In South Africa, the portfolio also includes modal-shift projects that move freight and passengers from road to rail.
Speaking of NDB, one is reminded of the role of multilateral development banks (MDBs) in climate finance, given that climate change is a global conundrum that requires collective efforts by all regional development banks.
At the COP31 Leaders' Summit, Guterres emphasized that MDBs must go beyond their Baku commitment to provide $120 billion annually by 2030. Achieving this will require more joint efforts between regional MDBs, supported by the overarching framework of the World Bank.
Notably, on November 12, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank agreed to a record $1.6 billion financing deal with Türkiye to support a series of policy reforms aimed at attracting the investment needed to achieve its climate goals.
There are some positive signs. A group of 10 major MDBs operating across Asia, Africa, Europe and America, alongside the World Bank, reported that their climate financing to low- and middle-income and high-income countries reached a record high of $162.5 billion in 2025, representing a 19 percent increase year over year.
In this regard, these MDBs could strengthen their collaborative efforts to channel funds into addressing the climate crisis and supporting mitigation efforts within their respective regions. This could include investing in green infrastructure and supporting research and development into new clean technologies, particularly in less affluent nations.
As human beings, we do not want to face an apocalypse driven by the threat of climate change, either now or in the future. Therefore, it is time to scale up climate finance to avoid such a horrifying scenario.
Author | Zhang Ruijun
Photo | CFP
