The Green Climate Fund, part of the agreements reached last year in Cancun, Mexico, must become the window into an era of much greater financing for climate action in the developing world, the United Nations Executive Secretariat on Climate Change said Friday.
"I am convinced that as long as governments, industry and investors recognize that a low-carbon future in a climate-resilient world is not only necessary but also sustainable and profitable, the necessary financing will flow faster than many expect. A well-designed Green Climate Fund will help ensure that this happens sooner rather than later," said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) while attending the first meeting of the Transition Committee for the Design of the Green Climate Fund on 28 and
April 29.
"Every year, nations must work together to build a better and more ambitious joint international response to human-generated climate change. The launch of the Green Climate Fund is one of the important decisions reached by nations in Cancun, showing that governments can repeatedly move forward, including this year in Durban," added Ms Figueres.
"Members of the Transition Committee from both developed and developing countries have established an important vision for the fund as a fundamental tool to help countries transform their economies towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy as well as to help them deal with the damage caused as a result of climate change, "He has developed and developing." said Mrs. Figueres.
Members emphasized the need for efficiency and effectiveness through clear accountability, ensuring that the Fund responds to the needs of developing countries, and underlining the need for good governance, based on the principles of equity, justice and trust.
They also underlined the Fund's role in mobilizing other sources of financing, including the private sector, to expand climate funds to the required levels.
The Green Climate Fund is in the broader context of an agreement by industrialized countries to mobilize $100 billion a year by 2020, combining public and private contributions.
The Transition Committee is composed of experts and respected personalities from the fields of finance and climate change, from both developed and developing countries. Its mission is to propose an effective design for the new fund in time for its adoption during the next UN Climate Conference in Durban in December 2011.
During the meeting, three co-chairs of the Fund were elected, including the Secretary of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico, Ernesto Cordero Arroyo, the Minister of Planning of the Presidency of South Africa, Trevor Manuel, and the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Finance of Norway, Kjetil Lund.
"This impressive and vital blend of experience and skills combines the knowledge of financial management with the practical needs of developing nations to create a sustainable future," said Ms Figueres.
The Cancun Agreements, reached on 11 December 2010 during the United Nations Climate Change Conference, are a set of decisions taken by the international community to address the long-term challenge of climate change in a comprehensive and time-consuming manner, as well as to take concrete steps to accelerate the global response.
Authors: Val
