Green Climate Fund clears planning hurdle

Yahoo News 15 Apr 11;

PARIS (AFP) – A planned fund to channel hundreds of billions of dollars to poor countries exposed to climate change has overcome an early obstacle, the UN said on Friday.

Members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreed on the make-up of a 40-seat transitional committee to design the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an issue that had been debated for weeks, the UNFCCC said.

Established at the UNFCCC's conference in Cancun last December, the GCF aims at administering aid, potentially worth 100 billion dollars a year by 2020, to developing countries at risk from rising seas, worsening drought, flood and storms.

The task of drawing up the GCF's terms of reference was entrusted to a transitional panel of 25 developing and 15 developed countries.

Important details are at stake, including the scope of a registry to record financial pledges and climate-mitigating action and whether non-governmental groups, the private sector and international organisations should be allowed to take part.

The committee had been scheduled to hold its maiden meeting in Mexico City on March 14 and 15, but the talks were snagged by discord over how to allot seats among the UNFCCC's geographical blocs.

This problem has now been resolved, and the first meeting will take place in the Mexican capital on April 28 and 29, the UNFCCC said in a press release.

Of the 40 seats, seven have gone to delegates from Africa, seven from Asia, seven from the Latin American/Caribbean region, 15 from developed countries, two from least developed countries and two from small island developing states.

"(...) Parties have put forward experienced and respected individuals," UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said.

"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."

Governments agree on members for new Green Climate Fund
UNEP 15 Apr 11;

Bonn, 15 April 2011 - Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have agreed the selection of the forty members who will be entrusted with the task of designing the Green Climate Fund, the new institution which will manage long-term finance mobilized to enable developing countries to address climate change.

The selection of this Transitional Committee, which will prepare operational specifications for the fund in time for approval by the next UN Climate Conference in Durban, in December, was one of the first scheduled tasks for 2011 under the international Cancun Agreements.

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, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres said on Friday.

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 said.

The Transitional Committee will have its first meeting in Mexico City on April 28 and 29. The meeting will be open to observers and the proceedings will be web cast on the UNFCCC website.

A list of members and information on their background can be found on the UNFCCC website

The Green Fund is being launched in the broad context of long-term financial support agreed at Cancun, under which industrialized countries committed to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020. These funds would be raised from a mix of public and private sources and directly linked to meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.

The Cancun Agreements, reached on 11 December in Cancun, Mexico, at the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference, are a set of significant decisions by the international community to address the long-term challenge of climate change collectively and comprehensively over time and to take concrete action now to speed up the global response.

An overview of these agreements and an overview of the Green Climate Fund can be found on the UNFCCC website.