Secretary-General Says Green Climate Fund ‘Must Not Be Empty Shell’, Parties

 

in Durban Must Ensure Its Launch, Agree to Scale up Fast-Start Financing

 

Following are UN Secretary-General’s remarks on mobilizing long-term climate financing for developing countries, in Durban, South Africa, 7 December:

It is a great pleasure to have this opportunity.  Let me first thank Prime Minister Meles [Zenawi] of Ethiopia and Prime Minister [Jens] Stoltenberg of Norway for their leadership on my High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing.

Thanks to the work of the Prime Ministers of Ethiopia and Norway, and also to the High-level Advisory Group members, we know that the short- and long-term financing goals accepted in Cancún can be reached through a combination of public and private sources.  This is an essential component, not only of the climate change negotiations, but also of addressing climate change where it matters — on the ground.  In fact, providing financial and technological support is the key, the most effective tool in addressing climate change.

On the short-term, fast-track approach, $30 billion has been pledged, and almost all of it has been identified in respective national budgets — about $427 billion to $428 billion have been identified.  However, recipient countries want to see greater transparency in how the funds are allocated and disbursed.  We also need prompt delivery of these funds to where they are most needed, in a way that inspires the confidence of all and generates further momentum for action on the ground.

On long-term financing, we still have a long way to go towards mobilizing $100 billion a year by 2020.  We have entered a time of economic uncertainty, an era of fiscal austerity.  But I cannot stress enough how important it is for developed countries to fulfil their commitments.  This is essential for helping developing countries to make progress on adaptation and mitigation.

The immediate challenge is how to get a scaled-up climate finance system up and running.  Governments decided in Cancún to establish a new Green Climate Fund.  I would like to thank the contribution of Minister Trevor Manuel as co-Chair of this.  I call on [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change] Parties to show leadership and ensure that any remaining differences on the design of the Fund will be resolved here in Durban, so the Fund can be launched.  Completing what was agreed in Cancún means translating policy into concrete action.  We also need agreement on a coherent, viable trajectory in scaling up from fast-start financing, which ends in 2012, to the long-term goal of $100 billion a year by 2020.

The new Fund must not be an empty shell.  I have called on industrialized countries to show leadership by injecting sufficient initial capital to allow the Fund to begin its work immediately.

Now is the time to implement the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing.  The scale of resources needed and the type of investments required will make it necessary for Governments to work together with the private sector.  I would like to emphasize that the United Nations remains deeply committed to this initiative, and to working with recipient countries so they can readily access and use these funds.  Thank you very much.

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For information media • not an official record