Experts put staggering $400 billion price tag on worsening economic crisis: 'Finance gap'

The Climate Vulnerable Forum comprises the 74 most vulnerable nations to the changing climate. While they've developed solutions to boost their resilience, a large financial gap prevents them from reaching those goals.

What is the climate finance gap?

The planet is warming at an unprecedented rate, causing more frequent extreme weather events and threatening the global economy. To build economic resilience, climate adaptation is needed. Enacting these solutions, however, requires money that developing nations don't currently have.

According to an Al Jazeera article by Mohamed Nasheed, secretary-general of the CVF-V20 Secretariat and former president of the Maldives, the CVF needs over $400 billion to make its plans come to life. This gap between the nations' climate goals and their solutions is referred to as the "climate finance gap."

Why you should care about the gap

The CVF includes nations across Africa, the Pacific, Asia, Central America, and South America. Combined, they contribute as little as 5% to overall global emissions. However, they bear the brunt of the environmental catastrophes brought on by the warming planet.

For example, Tuvalu is projected to lose 95% of its land by 2100 if the planet continues to warm at its current rate, while entire sections of the Maldives could become uninhabitable by 2050.

The countries that release the least pollution into the atmosphere should not have to suffer the environmental consequences brought upon them by the world's wealthiest nations. Developing countries depend heavily on international aid to reach their climate goals, but they still fall billions of dollars short.

So, what do experts propose?

How carbon markets can help close the gap

To close the gap, experts suggest letting these nations use carbon markets, which allow governments to trade greenhouse gas emission credits, per the United Nations Environment Programme.

Nasheed wrote, "The Climate Vulnerable Forum and Vulnerable 20 Finance Ministers (CVF-V20) recognise carbon markets as one of the levers that, by 2030, could unlock an additional $20bn annually to V20 countries."

To that end, Nasheed announced that the CVF-V20 is partnering with the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative, a non-profit organization, to "help its members evaluate and navigate engagement with diverse carbon markets."

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"V20 nations can access this support to make strategic use of carbon markets to build resilience — both nationally and globally," Nasheed wrote. "Our very survival depends on it."

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