Australia rejoins UN climate fund, to make 'modest contribution' - Reuters
Australia rejoins UN climate fund, to make 'modest contribution' | Reuters
Australia rejoins UN climate fund, to make 'modest contribution'
SYDNEY, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Australia will rejoin a U.N. climate fund set up to help poorer countries cope with global warming, a government spokesperson said, aiming to win over Pacific neighbours concerned about climate change five years after it froze contributions.
Set up in 2010 to finance climate projects in poorer countries, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) has approved $11 billion worth of projects in 129 countries, according to an April progress report. Some $3 billion has been disbursed.
Australia will rejoin the fund, after a former government pulled out in 2018, and announce a "modest contribution" by the end of the year, a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday.
"We have taken on board feedback from our partners in the Pacific on the best ways to direct our climate finance efforts and ensure all elements deliver for Pacific priorities," the spokesperson said.
"We recognise that the GCF is the most prominent global climate finance fund, and we will work with partners to improve the GCF’s effectiveness."
The shift reflects the clout of Pacific island nations at a time when Australia and the United States are trying to roll back diplomatic inroads by China into a region Canberra and Washington consider strategically crucial.
The fund has approved $1.4 billion worth of projects in small island developing states.
Australia joined the fund in 2014 and contributed about A$200 million over the following four years. It pulled out after then-prime minister Scott Morrison said in 2018 the country would no longer "tip money into that big climate fund".
Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Sonali Paul
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”