Nations pledge $9.8 billion to finance Green Climate Fund

A total of 27 nations made a commitment to step up financing for the UN-backed Green Climate Fund (GCF), including the UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Sweden, among others.

The funds, amounting to $9.8 billion (£7.6bn) will be spread over the next four years to help developing countries deal with the impacts of climate change. It was noted that Slovenia is a new first-time contributor to the Green Climate Fund in 2019.

In a press release, the GCF said the “resources will help developing countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the negative effects of global warming, such as rising sea levels, record temperatures, prolonged drought, and more frequent and severe weather events.”

Binwell Dzama, Senior Assistant Meteorologist – Engineer at the Malawi’s MET office, standing in front of the new weather station in the Malawi’s southern region, built as a part of the GCF funded project.
Photo: GCF

GCF

The amount pledged this year exceeds the USD 9.3 billion announced at the Fund’s previous pledging conference in 2014. Three-quarters of the countries increased their pledges, with nearly half of them doubling their pledges.

The commitments will enhance the Fund’s ability to support developing countries to design and deliver ambitious climate action plans as the world shifts toward a low-emission, climate-resilient way of life. By 2020, governments are expected to submit updated plans, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are key to the Paris Agreement.

“We are honored by the global community’s confidence in the Fund’s ability to support countries and communities to raise and realize their climate ambitions,” said Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund. “The coming years are critical as we empower our partners to innovate, accelerate and scale-up climate investments that match the pace and urgency of the climate crisis.”

The accelerating need for climate action across the planet means that all renewable measures need to be deployed – ranging from the small-scale solar panels helping to light up rural people’s lives in Rwanda to huge solar farms powering the emerging economic giants of the future. Photo: GCF

GCF

What is the Green Climate Fund?
The 194 country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established the Green Climate Fund in 2010 to direct climate finance to developing countries.

Since that time, the Green Climate Fund has been helping create paradigm shifts in climate action by utilizing public and private funds, while aiming at providing equal support to mitigation and adaptation so that developing countries can play a decisive role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

One of the benefits of the funding includes unlocking private sector markets of low-emission, climate-resilient innovation, actually boosting investment in the climate action capacities of developing countries. Every USD 1 billion invested in the Fund spurs nearly USD 3 billion in additional private sector financing, including from recipient countries. So it really isn’t what some critics liken to the rich countries footing the bill.

AP News

Investments supported by the Green Climate Fund are already transforming lives in 99 developing countries in a variety of ways. To name just a few examples:
*closing the energy gap for the power deficient in Rwanda and Kenya;
*helping Mongolians transition to renewables and reduce dangerous air pollution;
*building the resilience of water supplies in Barbados; and
*improving the climate resilience of Berber women in Morocco through sustainable farming practices that also boost local livelihoods. 

The Climate Action Network, which consists of more than 1,300 nongovernmental organizations, said in a statement that the U.S. and Australia, which also did not donate any money, have “turned their backs on the world’s poorest and have once again isolated themselves in global efforts to respond to the climate emergency.”