Developed world goes stingy on climate fund

NEW DELHI: More than 190 countries decided it would build up to a $100 billion kitty by 2020 to fight climate change globally but the Green Climate Fund looks set to remain an empty pot as the US and other developed countries have refused to commit the needed money or even set timelines for their contributions.

In a meeting of the UN fund held in Berlin recently, the US and other developed countries refused to discuss a burden-sharing formula for contributions or set any calendar to schedule the initial funding. By December 2012, only $5.7 million was committed by the rich world to the fund.

India was represented at the meeting by Dipak Dasgupta, principle economic advisor to the finance ministry. He said there was a need to talk about the scale of the resources required upfront which are predictable and significant in size. He noted that the fund was not a donor programme or a charity but a commitment made under the UN climate change convention. He warned that there could not be a voluntary approach to contributions.

But the developed countries preferred to not be bound by a time-table or a target, suggesting that at present the fund should depend upon only ad hoc pledges. They demanded that the business model of the fund be developed before monies are committed.

Sources at the meeting said the US even questioned the value of having the fund with its representative on the GCF board claiming it was hard to make a compelling case that the GCF was an entity worth putting money into.

Third World Network, an NGO with a southern perspective on climate change negotiations, attending the meeting cautioned against the proposals by some board members for the GCF to provide loan guarantees and other instruments that would put the GCF at risk and said that it was immoral for developed countries to continue to delay making their commitments to the GCF.