UK's Brown calls for $100 billion a year climate fund
01 July, 2009
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for $100 billion a year to be put aside by 2020 to help developing countries to fight climate change – the first leader of an industrialised country to put a figure on the table.
Setting out the UK’s manifesto for the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December, Brown said the global community should agree a figure of around $100 billion a year by 2020 to finance developing country efforts to reduce emissions, tackle deforestation and adapt to the effects of climate change already being experienced.
The funds should come from a combination of carbon markets and public finance, and begin to flow from 2013, he added.
Both developed and advanced developing countries should contribute to the pot, according to their ability and emissions, he said. A “substantial proportion” of the public finance should be earmarked for adaptation for the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
“The UN negotiations on the arrangements for financial assistance in the post-2012 agreement are not moving at the pace we need,” said the prime minister. “We cannot allow this to drift – when every year of delay retards investment, locks us into a higher emissions pathway, worsens the impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable, and increases the costs of eventual reduction.”
Lord Stern welcomed the proposal, saying Brown “identified the most important principles required to make progress on a deal over finance, particularly additionality, which means that developing countries receive funding from the rich countries, over and above existing commitments on development aid, to help them to adapt to the impacts of climate change”.
However, the proposal received a mixed reaction from environmentalists. Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said the $100 billion a year figure was “inadequate” to meet the needs of developing countries, already struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change. He added: “The latest estimates suggest rich countries must provide double this figure if we’re to make serious headway in averting climate catastrophe.”
But Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK, said: “The figures outlined show a growing understanding of the level of financing that we need to unlock in order to help the world adapt to and lessen the future impacts of climate change. The challenge now is for other developed countries to step up at the next G8 meeting and demonstrate a willingness to match or even better Brown’s efforts.”
Climate and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband added that a global deal would reduce the risk of devastating climate impacts on the people of Britain and “open the door to big new opportunities to create green jobs and economic prosperity”.
