A U.N.-supported reserve has endorsed more than $1 billion for 19 new ventures to enable creating nations to handle environmental change.
During the four-day meeting in Bahrain, officials that oversea the Green Climate Fund agreed to start seeking fresh money next year as its initial capital of $6.6 billion will be gone soon.
The South Korea-based fund is considered an important vehicle for climate-related development programs in developing nations. Rich nations were originally intended to donate $10 billion to support the fund. With the United States intending to donate $3 billion, but U.S. President Donald Trump made the decision to withhold $2 billion pledged by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
GCF board co-chair Lennart Båge of Sweden said the results from last week’s meeting had “exceeded expectations”. Joe Thwaites, an associate in WRI’s Sustainable Finance Center said:
“We are in a much better place going into these crunch climate talks in December,”
Multiple projects had funding approved, including projects linked to geothermal energy in Indonesia, greener cities in Europe and the Middle East and protection of coastal communities in India.
The host country of Bahrain requested $9.8 million to fund the protection of its freshwater resources. Environmentalists had pointed out that the Gulf nation could pay for the project itself using money it made off its reserves of oil and gas. The project was eventually approved, but with only $2.1 million of the originally requested amount.
Decision on funding a Chinese project was postponed after concerns from Japan and the United States that the money could be used to subsidize research into new technology, which is not allowed under current rules and regulations.
Debates within the fund have sometimes split between Western countries and large emerging economies such as China, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The fund’s last director, Howard Bamsey, resigned in July after what officials described as a “very difficult and disappointing meeting”.
[via AP Press]
