Stiell backs USD 1.3 trillion climate finance roadmap, urges shift from ambition to delivery by 2035

UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell on Friday urged governments and financial leaders to move from “ambition to delivery” on climate finance, backing a roadmap that targets annual climate funding flows of 1.3 trillion dollars by 2035.

Speaking at an event titled “Implementing the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministers Report and the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T: Recommendations and Pathways to Deliver” in Belém, he described the new work as a practical guide to aligning climate ambition with economic realities.

Stiell praised the COP30 Circle of Finance Ministers for what he called “invaluable leadership and insight”, saying it had helped root the Baku to Belém Roadmap in “the real-world realities of economic management and national budgets”.

He said the roadmap sends “a powerful signal of confidence” that mobilising 1.3 trillion dollars in climate finance each year by 2035 is “both achievable as well as essential”, and noted that it contains concrete examples of measures that can work in practice.

“Without this finance, climate action won’t happen,” Stiell warned, adding that only finance at the required scale could “turn the tide on implementation” while ensuring that climate action “continues to be the road that makes business sense”.

Outlining the thrust of the roadmap, he said it pointed to the need to increase grants, reduce debt burdens and “create fiscal space” in vulnerable economies. He also highlighted the role of “innovative instruments to draw in private capital” and the importance of ensuring that funds reach those “solving problems on the ground”, from small businesses to local communities.

“We all know how high the stakes are – but the opportunity that’s presented is immense,” he said.

Calling for a tighter link between global climate negotiations and day-to-day economic decision-making, Stiell said the work around the roadmap aims to “bring our process closer to the real economy”, with fair and accessible finance that “turns plans into progress”.

“Now, let’s connect ambition to delivery, and commitments to action,” he concluded, describing the discussions in Belém, at the heart of the Amazon, as the beginning of “a new chapter of climate cooperation”.