Green Climate Fund gets $9.3 billion in pledges at Berlin conference

[Buster's Uncle]

Green Climate Fund gets $9.3 billion in pledges at Berlin conference
Reuters
By Madeline Chambers  8 minutes ago



BERLIN (Reuters) - Donor nations pledged a total $9.3 billion on Thursday to a U.N. fund to help developing countries tackle climate change, but environmental campaigners said the funds fell short of what is needed.

The U.N. Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a major part of a plan agreed in 2009 whereby rich countries agreed to mobilize $100 billion a year from both public and private sources from 2020 to help developing nations adapt to a changing global climate and reduce their own carbon emissions.

The United Nations has set an informal target of $10 billion in initial contributions this year, a goal that Germany - host of Thursday's donor conference - said was now within sight, but developing countries are pushing for $15 billion.

Greenpeace hailed the pledges as "a first and important step" but rapped Australia, Russia and others for making none.

"While climate change is developing faster than expected, the financial support for those who are the most affected still evolves at a snail`s pace," said Stefan Krug, head of the political unit of Greenpeace Germany.

Marlene Moses of Nauru, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) at the U.N. climate talks, said:

"We are still well short of the $15 billion in initial contributions which we feel is needed to establish the GCF as the transformational funding mechanism that we agreed to."

The cash pledged will help emerging economies curb their own greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to changes such as heatwaves, mudslides and rising sea levels. It is seen as vital to unlock a U.N. climate deal meant to be agreed in late 2015 in Paris.

That deal will aim to limit a rise in average global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. Global temperatures have already risen by about 0.9 C.

Thursday's pledges included money that had already been announced, such as up to $1.5 billion from Japan and up to $3 billion from the United States. New pledges included $1.1 billion from Britain and undisclosed amounts from Italy, Finland, New Zealand, Mongolia and Panama.

Officials said they expected Canada to join in by the end of the year and hoped Austria and Belgium would also contribute.

"This is a very important historic day," said Hela Cheikhrouhou, Executive Director of the Fund, describing the Berlin conference as "very fruitful".

(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Gareth Jones)


http://news.yahoo.com/green-climate-fund-gets-9-3-billion-pledges-160942741--sector.html

[Buster's Uncle]

FACTBOX: Green Climate Fund pledges total $9.3 billion
Reuters  34 minutes ago



(Reuters) - Following are details of national pledges totaling $9.3 billion to the U.N.'s Green Climate Fund (GCF), meant to help developing nations cope with global warming, following a donors' meeting in Berlin on Thursday.

The United Nations has set an informal target of raising $10 billion for the fund this year, in an initial capitalization lasting four years.

The GCF is meant to help developing nations curb their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. The fund is part of a broader U.N. deal, due to be agreed in Paris in late 2015, to limit rising temperatures.

The GCF gave a total of $9.3 billion but did not give a full breakdown, and assumptions about long-term exchange rates affect the numbers.

Germany, for instance, has said its pledge is "750 million euros, or about $1 billion" but at current exchange rates 750 million euros is $940 million.

Following is an overview of known pledges to the GCF:

Country Pledges (millions of

dollars)

United States 3000

Japan 1500

Britain 1100

Germany 1000

France 1000

Sweden 540

Italy 310

Norway 130

The Netherlands 125

South Korea 100

Finland 100

Switzerland 100

Denmark 70

Spain 16

Mexico 10

Luxembourg 6.3

Czech Republic 5.5

New Zealand 3.0

Panama 1.0

Monaco 0.3

Indonesia 0.25

Mongolia 0.05

TOTAL 9117

TOTAL GIVEN BY GCF 9300

(Sources: Official GCF website, news.gcfund.org/pledges/, Oxfam, national pledges)

(Reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo, Barbara Lewis in Brussels, Madeline Chambers in Berlin; Editing by Gareth Jones)


http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-green-climate-fund-pledges-total-9-3-161124786--finance.html

[Buster's Uncle]

UN climate fund falls short of $10 billion target
Associated Press
By FRANK JORDANS  1 hour ago



Delegates and participants of the Green Climate Fund talk to each other prior the meeting in Berlin, Germany, Thursday Nov. 20, 2014. A United Nations fund that will help poor countries tackle climate change has fallen short for now of its target of collecting US $10 billion, officials said Thursday. Some 30 countries meeting in Berlin pledged a total of $9.3 billion toward the Green Climate Fund. (AP Photo/dpa,Rainer Jensen)



BERLIN (AP) — A U.N. fund that will help poor countries tackle climate change has fallen short, for now, of its target of collecting $10 billion, officials said Thursday.

About 30 countries meeting in Berlin pledged a total of $9.3 billion toward the Green Climate Fund, according to Germany's development ministry, which co-hosted the conference.

Last week, the U.S. pledged $3 billion, the biggest amount so far. Britain announced Thursday it would give 720 million pounds ($1.13 billion). Japan, Germany and France also have given $1 billion or more.

Despite the shortfall, Germany's environment minister said she was satisfied by the result because some countries had indicated they would increase their contribution in the coming months.

"I'm confident that we will reach the $10 billion goal," Barbara Hendricks told reporters. "$9.3 billion is already pretty close."

Hendricks said Canada had made a surprise announcement that it would contribute, without saying yet how much.

Campaign group Oxfam described the amount collected so far as "only a bare minimum," noting that rich countries such as Australia, Austria and Belgium hadn't offered anything yet.

Germany's development minister, Gerd Mueller, said the fund would start disbursing money toward the middle or end of next year.

"If humans want to avoid the fate of dinosaurs, then we need to act now, immediately," he said.

The fund is meant to help vulnerable developing nations adjust to rising seas, warmer temperatures and more extreme weather. The money will also be used to help those countries develop clean energy sources that reduce the use of greenhouse gas-emitting coal, oil and gas.

Governments agreed at a 2009 summit in Copenhagen to seek a total of $100 billion for measures to rein in climate change and dampen its impact.


http://news.yahoo.com/britain-pledges-1-1b-climate-fund-poor-113424207.html