The
most detailed analysis to date of how well rich nations have kept
promises to provide poorer ones with funds to tackle climate change was
released today. The research concludes that they have collectively
failed to fulfil eight substantive pledges.
Published
by the International Institute for Environment and Development — the
study comes as countries prepare for the latest round of
intergovernmental climate-change negotiations, which begin next week
in Doha.
The
wealthier nations promised in 2009 to provide developing countries with
US$30 billion by the end of 2012, and said this should be “new and
additional” finance balanced between support for adaptation
and mitigation activities. They made additional pledges about
transparency, governance and the need to help the most vulnerable
nations first.
But
so far, only US$23.6 billion of the US$30 billion promised has been
committed. And only 20 per cent of the fast start finance has been
allocated to projects that will help poor nations adapt to a changing
climate.
Less
than half of the fast start finance is in the form of grants. The rest
is loans, which means poor countries must repay with interest the costs
of adapting to a problem they have not caused.
And
rich nations have not provided enough transparent information to prove
that their contributions are really new and not just diverted from
existing aid budgets.
To
examine transparency in more detail, the researchers evaluated donor
nations across 24 measures. On the resulting scorecard, no donor nation
scored more than 67 per cent.
“Without
transparency about how and when rich countries will meet their climate
finance pledges, developing countries are left unable to plan to
adequately address and respond to climate change,” says co-author
Timmons Roberts of Brown University in the United States, whose Climate
and Development Lab led the research.
David
Ciplet, also of Brown University, adds: “Only two of the ten donors we
assessed are delivering their fair share of climate finance, based on
their ability to pay and how much they have contributed
to climate change through emitting greenhouse gases in recent decades.”
On
these measures, Norway has performed best, providing five times its fair
share. At the other end of the scale, both Iceland and the United
States contributed less than half their fair share.
The
broken promises will make it harder for developing countries to take
seriously what richer nations say at the UN climate change talks, which
take place in Doha, Qatar from 26 November to 7 December.
One
way to restore trust would be for rich countries to channel their
climate finance through funds that the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change set up as they have a governance structure with equal
representation from developed and developing nations. Also critical
will be to fulfil the US$30 billion promise by the end of the calendar
year, and to ensure that this money is delivered to support projects in a
timely manner.
This
is something that, in 2010, all rich countries agreed should be a
feature of funds through which they channel their climate finance. Yet,
so far, rich nations have channelled only two per cent of the
climate finance through these UNFCCC funds.
The
poor track record of rich nations in meeting their fast start finance
pledges has raised serious concerns that these countries will also
renege on their bigger promise to ensure that US$100 billion
flows to developing nations each year by 2020 to help them to respond
to climate change.
“With
trust in short supply, and little time to negotiate a global response
to climate change, the UN talks need an injection of goodwill,” says
Saleemul Huq of IIED. “The rich nations can provide this
by making good on their past promises and showing the poorer nations
that they are serious about working together to tackle this global
challenge.”
Contacts for interviews:
Timmons Roberts
David Ciplet
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