Green Climate Fund for developing countries

19 Apr 2011

Governments have agreed on the 40 members for the UN Green Climate Fund, the new institution that will manage the long-term finance to enable developing countries to address climate change.

The Green Fund is being launched in the broad context of long-term financial support agreed at The Cancún Agreements last December, under which industrialised countries committed to a goal of mobilising jointly €100bn per year by 2020 to help countries protect themselves from the impacts of climate change.

Part of the Green Climate Fund will be a Technology Mechanism to help develop new, cleaner technologies in developing countries.

The Technology Mechanism will also encompass a Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) to facilitate national, regional, sectoral and international technology networks, organisations and initiatives.

The Green Climate Fund committee will have its first meeting in Mexico City on 28 and 29 April. It will prepare operational specifications for the fund in time for approval by the next UN Climate Conference in Durban in December.

“The high level of interest among governments in contributing to the design process is a demonstration of the great interest among parties in the Green Climate Fund. Parties have put forward experienced and respected individuals from the fields of finance and climate change,” said United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Christiana Figueres.

“The transparent, predictable and adequate provision of finance in the long term is essential to ensure that the poor and vulnerable can build themselves a sustainable future in the face of climate change,” she added.

To see a list of the 40 delegates and their backgrounds, click here.

Photo: Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP16) in Cancun, Mexico

Carmel Doyle was a long-time reporter with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com