The committee tasked with investigating the formation of a new UN-backed fund to support low carbon projects and policies in developing countries has been finalized, bringing an end to a simmering row that was threatening to delay talks on the so-called Green Fund.
Christiana Figures, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, announced late last week that 40 members had been chosen to sit on the Transitional Committee of the Green Climate Fund.
The group features a wide range of individuals from the fields of finance and climate change, including UK representative Nick Dyer, a policy director from the UK Department for International Development. They will be charged with delivering proposals for how the new Green Fund will operate in time for approval at the next UN Climate Conference in Durban in December.
The formation of the Green Climate Fund was agreed at the Cancun climate summit last year, with the remit to help poorer countries mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change by mobilising finance from richer countries. But initial talks on how the fund should operate were postponed last month following disagreements over appointments to the committee.
Developing countries were reported to have taken longer than expected to agree on who should sit on the Transitional Committee, amid fears that those countries with a representative could have an increased chance of receiving funding when the fund eventually begins operation.
The fund could distribute up to $100bn a year from 2020, and as such is seen as essential to efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and agree a new international climate change treaty. Figures welcomed the progress made since the delayed meeting, and said that the first meeting of the Committee would now take place in Mexico City on 28 and 29 April.
"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," she 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."
Source: Apec-vc
