At the forthcoming Durban climate change talks (COP17), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will be gunning for international agreement on its Green Climate Fund, meant to pay for developing countries' climate change mitigation actions and potentially eradicate energy poverty.
Yesterday the framework convention's executive secretary Christiana Figueres said considerable advances were made during negotiations in Geneva earlier this week.
The climate fund - agreed to at the 2009 Copenhagen climate change talks - has pledges of $30bn by next year and $100bn a year by 2020. But the global financial crisis is one reason why turning pledges into cash has been difficult.
Ms Figueres said at the Geneva negotiations , which ended yesterday, advances were made on the "nuts and bolts " of how the fund would function, and on "broad agreement" on the importance of including the private sector.
There was clear ambition to create the fund, along with ensuring that it was country-driven and integrated into national development planning processes, she said in a statement.
Ms Vanderweerd said while the fund was aiming for $100bn a year by 2020 it was more likely that $400bn was needed. If the fund was wisely set up it had the potential of eradicating "energy poverty". Estimates were that 1,4bn people had no access to electricity and many used biomass for cooking and heating, adding to greenhouse gas emissions. Read the full report here.
Source: Sue Blaine, Business Day.
