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World Bank Would Manage $100 Billion 'Green Fund' Under UN Plan
2010-12-11 03:23:32.825 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The World Bank would be invited to
manage a "green fund," channeling as much as $100 billion a
year in climate aid to developing nations under a draft of a
United Nations agreement at talks in Cancun, Mexico.
The meeting proposed to establish a Green Climate Fund,
which would be designed by a so-called "transitional
committee" of 40 members, including 25 from developing
countries and 15 from industrialized nations, according to the
plan published today at the talks. The text must be approved by
delegates from 193 nations.
Developing countries are seeking finance at the
negotiations from rich nations, which have contributed most of
the heat-trapping gas that scientists say causes climate change.
"Designing the spending mechanism requires a lot of
work," said David Hone, chairman of the International Emissions
Trading Association, a Geneva-based lobby group.
Industrialized nations had offered to provide $30 billion
in finance in the three years through 2012 and would provide
about $100 billion a year by 2020, according to the text.
"Collecting the money is the easier part," said Hone, who
is also the climate adviser at Royal Dutch Shell Plc.
"Funneling it into projects is more difficult."
The World Bank's role would be reviewed three years after
the start of the fund's operations, the draft said. Once
established, it would be governed by 24 members, an equal number
from developed and developing nations.
'Good Stuff'
"There is some good stuff in here," said Steven Herz,
climate change adviser for Greenpeace International in San
Francisco. "They decided to create the fund here. That's
critical."
The source of money for the fund wasn't clear, he said.
"There used to be some text in there about trying to develop
mechanisms to raise revenue from international aviation and
shipping. That's gone."
The text was better than expected earlier today, Tim Gore,
a policy adviser for Oxfam, said in an interview.
"There's still a question mark over a couple of things,
one is where they're going to get the money to fill that fund,"
Gore said.
The UN needs a new body to spend revenue from future sales
of carbon allowances, ensuring that developing nations build
sustainable economies, the former UN climate chief said
yesterday.
"The system isn't really coherently organized," said Yvo
de Boer, former head at the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change and now climate adviser at KPMG International.
Playing Roles
The World Bank and the UN Environment Program are "not
really playing roles that can very clearly be distinguished.
There's not really an organization to help countries on the
energy and industry journey," he said.
Today's text includes an invitation to nations and other
people to submit views on a potential new carbon market by Feb.
21 next year.
UN envoys are working on replacing or extending the 1997
Kyoto Protocol, which limits emissions from most rich nations in
the five years through 2012. China wants the U.S. to sign onto a
similar treaty. U.S. envoys say China hasn't been transparent
enough in its efforts to limit greenhouse gases.
For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>
--With assistance from Kim Chipman and Jim Efstathiou Jr in
Cancun, Mexico. Editors: Reed Landberg, Paul Tighe
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in Cancun via +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net;
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net
