Green Climate Fund Passes $10 Billion Threshold

Steve Zwick

Today, Belgium helped the Green Climate Fund reach its $10 billion goal with a $60 million contribution. Because far more funds are needed to address the enormous challenge that is climate change, reaching the $10 billion mark is as much a symbolic achievement as it is financial, analysts say.

9 December 2014 | Lima | Peru | Late last week, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) received good news when Norway doubled its pledge bringing the Fund’s total within USD $50 million of its $10 billion goal. $10 billion is the number the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres says is the minimum threshold to make a meaningful impact on climate change.

Today the Fund received more good news as Belgium is expected to contribute $60 million to the GCF, which is intended to counter climate change with mitigation and adaptation practices in developing countries. The European nation is expected to make a formal announcement later today during the High-level Ministerial Dialogue on Climate Finance at the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

Reaching the $10 billion mark has heavy symbolic meaning as the financial costs of the mitigation and adaptation needs far outweigh this number. In order for negotiations to truly move forward and for the possibility of an international climate agreement to be reached during next year’s COP in Paris, the $10 billion objective had to be achieved, industry analysts say.

“Crossing the $10 billion threshold has symbolic and financial significance,” says Athena Ballesteros, the Finance Center Director at the World Resources Institute. “Contributors have clearly demonstrated their commitment to helping countries confront climate impacts on-the-ground. This is an important down payment on climate action that can help build trust in the negotiations.”

During the high-level dialogue to take place later today (3-6 pm EST), other countries are expected to announce contributions to the GCF.

Steve Zwick is a freelance writer and produces the Bionic Planet podcast. Previously, he was Managing Editor of Ecosystem Marketplace, and prior to that he covered European business for Time Magazine and Fortune Magazine and produced the award-winning program Money Talks on Deutsche Welle Radio in Bonn, Germany.

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