10 billion dollars pledged to climate fund

10 billion dollars pledged to climate fund
Credit: Belga

The countries that donate to the Green Climate Fund, the financial arm of the Paris Climate treaty, pledged 10 billion dollars to the organisation on Friday. 

The Fund will receive the money in installments between 2020 and 2023. The extra money will make up for the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris treaty. 

“I am extremely happy to announce that we closed this conference with an agreed budget of 9.8 billion euros,” French treasury director Odile Renaud-Basso said during a press conference. The conference was held after a meeting between the donators based in Paris. 

“We have managed to compensate for the United States’ withdrawal thanks to considerable budget efforts” from the 27 donating countries, Renaud-Basso continued. 

When the conference opened, Finance minister Bruno Le Maire said the Fund’s reconstitution was “ambitious, despite the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris agreement”. 

The Fund’s Executive director, Yannick Glemarec, said “13 out of the 27 countries have doubled their contribution” (compared to the Fund’s first financing operation). 75% of the donating countries have increased their participation to ensure the Fund has the means to continue its work despite the US’ withdrawal. 

The US pledged 3 billion dollars during the Fund’s first constitution. However, they only ended up paying one billion after Donald Trump arrived in the White House in 2017. This left the Green Climate Fund with 7.2 billion dollars for the previous period. 

“The challenge is to secure these funds quickly so that the Fund can work efficiently,” Renaud-Basso explained. 

Among the countries that have doubled their contribution are France (1.5 billion euros), Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand and Poland. Slovakia and Slovenia have contributed for the first time.  

Japan, which renewed its 1.5-billion-dollar contribution, has become the biggest contributor with an overall total of 3 billion euros. 

The Green Climate Fund was created 10 years ago to support developing countries “during their transition to a low greenhouse gas emitting economic model.”

The first sprint supported a total of 111 programs in around a hundred countries.

The Brussels Times 


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