At the United Nations climate conference COP29, countries agreed to dedicate $300 billion to annual funding for the fight against climate change. Here are some ways to understand the value of this sum:
MILITARY POWER
In 2023, governments around the world will spend $6.7 billion per day on military spending, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
This means that the $300 billion per year climate finance target is equivalent to 45 days of global military spending.
OIL BURNING
$300 billion is currently the price of all the crude oil used in the world in just over 40 days, according to Reuters calculations based on global crude oil demand of around 100 million barrels per day and on Brent crude oil prices in late November.
ELON MUSK
According to Forbes, Elon Musk's net worth stood at $321.7 billion at the end of November. The world's richest man and owner of social media platform X has co-founded more than half a dozen companies, including electric car maker Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX.
STORM DAMAGE
Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating and deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, caused $200 billion in damage in 2005 alone.
This year's climate-fueled Hurricane Helena could cost the United States up to $250 billion in economic losses and damages, according to AccuWeather estimates. Preliminary estimates from Morningstar DBRS suggest that Hurricane Milton, also fueled by ocean heat, could cost the insured and uninsured nearly $100 billion.
BEAUTY PURCHASES
The global luxury goods market is valued at €363 billion ($378 billion) in 2024, according to Bain & Company.
COPPER PLATED
The GDP of Chile, the world's largest copper-producing country, was $335.5 billion in 2023, according to World Bank data.
BAILOUT OF GREECE
Eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund spent some 260 billion euros ($271 billion) between 2010 and 2018 to bail out Greece, representing the largest sovereign bailout in economic history.
UK BONDS
The new British government must borrow more to finance its budget plans. Bond issuance is expected to reach 296.9 billion pounds ($372.05 billion) for the current financial year.
TECHNICAL STORY
A 10% share of tech giant Microsoft is worth just over $300 billion, according to LSEG data. At the same time, the market capitalization of the American oil company Chevron stands at $292 billion.
CRYPTO
The annual climate change funding target represents 75% of the total market value of the global cryptocurrency Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency in the world.
Separately, 3 million bitcoins would cover the annual target for funding the fight against climate change, as the world's largest cryptocurrency inches closer to the $100,000 mark following a rally fueled by the victory of Donald Trump in the American presidential election on November 5.
(1 dollar = 0.7980 pounds)
(1 $ = 0,9600 euro)
