| Guyana joins UK, Ethiopia and Norway to raise US$100 billion in climate finance | ||||
|
|
The establishment of the advisory group builds on the Copenhagen Accord, which was agreed by most of the world’s countries at December’s climate change conference in the Danish capital. UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said that the group would take on “the task that I believe is the most important we face – combating climate change by ensuring that the poorest countries have the finance necessary to do so. “If we can resolve this problem then I believe many of the other challenges of climate change can also be solved.” President Jagdeo and the three Prime Ministers will be joined by 16 global experts and leading policy-makers from the world’s major economies – including Larry Summers, the Director of President Obama’s National Economic Council; Lord Nicholas Stern, Author of the Stern Review on Climate Change; Caio Koch-Weser, the Vice-Chairman of Deutsche Bank, and George Soros, the venture capitalist. Senior Government representatives from China, India, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, Singapore, Mali, Brazil, Australia and France will also contribute. A statement issued by the UN Secretary General’s Office said: “… the group will develop practical proposals on how to significantly scale-up long-term financing for mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries.” The group is expected to meet in 10 Downing Street in London within the coming month, and will conclude their work before the end of 2010. Getting agreement on the need for both immediate “fast start” funding and a commitment to US$100 billion in annual climate finance for developing countries by 2020 have been two of Guyana’s key demands in international climate negotiations. Guyana lobbied for these commitments to be included in the Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus which was agreed to by more than 50 Heads of Government at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad in November. They were also two of the key factors that President Jagdeo insisted must be agreed at the Copenhagen climate change negotiations. In an invited comment to the Government Information Agency (GINA), President Jagdeo said: “We need to face some blunt realities. One, the world is still not on the path to climate stability, and in that sense Copenhagen did not deliver what the world needs. Two, we stand no chance of getting climate stability unless we support the many developing countries which are working to combat climate change and move on to a low carbon trajectory. In that sense, Copenhagen made significant progress. “The financing commitments in the Copenhagen Accord, both to fast track financing of a total of US$30 billion by 2012, and to raising US$100 billion annually by 2020, are vital building blocks for climate stability and saving the lives of hundreds of millions of people. “We had argued for some time for commitments of this scale to be made, and we are delighted that our efforts and those of other countries, who worked alongside us, have led to what we now have in the Copenhagen Accord. But we need to see these commitments turned into reality – and that will require tough choices to be made across the world. “I’m very happy to accept the Secretary General’s invitation to join his advisory group, and look forward to working with Prime Ministers Meles, Brown and Stoltenberg, as well as the other members of the group. I think we all share the view that this cannot be another talk shop, but instead the means through which we come up with practical solutions that can be quickly implemented in a way that re-inforces both the UNFCCC process and the good work being done by progressive countries across the developing world.” (By KNews) Copyright © 2009 Kaieteur NewsSource: Kaieteur News Online Some rights for the image is reserved under Creative Commons license
Comments (0)
Write comment |
At the request of Ban ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary General, President Bharrat Jagdeo will join his British, Ethiopian and Norwegian counterparts to mobilise US$100 billion in annual finance for developing countries’ efforts to combat climate change.
