World Bank collects $6.1 bn in pledges for climate funds

WASHINGTON: The World Bank said on Friday that 10 nations had pledged more than 6.1 billion dollars to its new investment funds aimed at helping developing countries fight global warming.

The Climate Investment Funds, launched on July 1, are aimed at providing "interim, scaled-up funding to help developing countries in their efforts to mitigate increases in greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change," the multilateral development lender said in a statement.

The pledges were made Friday at a meeting at the World Bank's headquarters in Washington.

The donors were Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and United States.

The World Bank said that two trust funds were being created under the Climate Investment Funds. The first, the Clean Technology Fund, will invest in projects and programs in developing countries that contribute to the pursuit of low-carbon technologies, to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions blamed for global warming.

The broader second fund, the Strategic Climate Fund, will invest in "various programs to test innovative approaches to climate change," the World Bank said.

The first proposals to win funding are expected to be announced early in 2009.