The commitment to $30 billion in climate aid between 2011-2012 was the single biggest concrete outcome of last year's Copenhagen summit, and US officials used the promise of cash to get poorer countries to support the accord. But America and other richer countries had been too slow in awarding the so-called 'fast-start' finance, and those delays could wreck the already slim prospects of advancing a global climate deal, Jairam Ramesh, India's environment minister, said.
"Guyana has complained. Maldives has complained. Bangladesh has complained. Country after country has told me the disbursements are simply not taking place. It was meant to be a fast start," Ramesh told the Guardian. "We are one year after Copenhagen, and the real issue is: how much of the fast start has been actually disbursed?"
As detailed in the Guardian, the deputy US climate change envoy Jonathan Pershing had repeated consultations with Maldives about how to take advantage of the climate fund.
Ramesh first raised the complaint at a press conference earlier today, where he spoke on behalf of China, India, South Africa and Brazil - the bloc of major emerging economies that brokered last year's deal with Barack Obama. Read the full report here.
Source: Suzanne Goldenberg in Cancún The Guardian, UK.
