Dr. Mahmoud Mohieddin, UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Sustainable Development Finance and Chair of the UN Expert Team on Global Debt Solutions, emphasized that mobilizing financial resources from all sources is essential for a real transition to a green economy and enabling developing countries to support their nationally determined contributions. He spoke during a session titled “Mobilizing the Private Sector, Financial Institutions, and Voluntary Actors for a Real Economic Transition and More Ambitious National Contributions at COP30” held during the opening program of Climate Week in Rio de Janeiro. Participants included Tatiana Rosseto, Brazilian Ministry of Finance’s International Relations Secretary, Nijar Arbadaray, Climate Champion for COP29, Marina Grossi, Chair of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, and Ricardo Moussa, Chair of the COP30 Sustainability Business Committee.

Mohieddin called for comprehensive mobilization and efforts from all parties to provide sufficient and fair financing for climate activities, praising Brazil’s presidency of COP30 for urging all parties to find a package of solutions to accelerate Paris Agreement implementation through coordinated climate and development goals. He noted that integrating the outcomes of the Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FFD4) into COP30 would be a significant step toward aligning climate and sustainable development agendas, enhancing debt sustainability commitments, expanding concessional and grant-based finance, and reforming global financial governance.

He stressed the importance of political support and activating UN expert team recommendations on debt, especially regarding fair debt restructuring frameworks integrating climate and development goals, encouraging debt-for-climate swaps, and normalizing debt service suspension during crises, placing debt justice at the heart of climate justice.

Mohieddin highlighted that $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 is targeted under the Baku-Belém roadmap to meet the new quantitative climate finance goal, while the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) expects annual climate finance needs to rise steadily from $8.1 to $9 trillion by 2030. The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance (IHLEG) estimates needs of $5.8 to $6.2 trillion annually by 2030, including $2.4 to $2.6 trillion in advanced economies, $1.1 trillion in China, and $2.3 to $2.5 trillion in emerging and developing economies excluding China, underscoring the urgent need to mobilize all parties’ efforts for fair and efficient financing.

He emphasized reforming the climate and development finance system to ensure larger, more sustainable financial flows to real economy projects such as renewable energy, clean transport, and natural resource management, and enhancing innovative finance through tools like green bonds and blended finance to enable broader private sector participation and reduce investment risks.

Mohieddin also stressed activating blended finance and risk mitigation mechanisms, reforming multilateral development banks (MDBs), and developing climate funds such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), and Adaptation Fund.

He pointed to the importance of developing Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) to link nationally determined priorities with all public and private finance flows, launching country platforms to align national priorities with investable projects, especially adaptation and resilience projects, and ensuring that nationally determined contributions (NDCs 3.0) are investable through an investment roadmap.

In conclusion, Mohieddin stated that the world looks to COP30 to contribute to an immediate shift from pledges to implementation, emphasizing that ambitions alone are insufficient and must translate into tangible actions ensuring the desired economic transition and integration of climate action with sustainable development.