Hillary: U.S. Supports $100B Fund
Posted on 17. Dec, 2009 by Ben Jervey in U.S.A., bits
This strikes me as pretty big news. Secretary of State Clinton just announced that the U.S. would support a $100 billion global fund for mitigation and adaptation, and that the U.S. would pay it’s fair share into this. It would come from a wide variety of sources: public and private, bilateral and multilateral commitments, and would be “for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.”
Jennifer Morgan of WRI got the news while giving a press conference, seemed surprised and excited, and said that “if this is true” then hopefully the EU, Japan, and other industrialized countries will come onboard.
The key, of course, is transparency. Clinton seemed intent on putting the ball in China’s court-urging that all supported NAMAs (nationally appropriate mitigation actions that are paid for by other countries) have to be transparent. China and India (let’s be honest here) will need to open up their books and defend them for the U.S. to support the finance.
Let’s be clear, this is support for finance on a scale never seen before. And in the Q&A Clinton left plenty of room for negotiating what exactly the transparency could be.
The Adopter - Ben Jervey
Ben Jervey comes from New York City. He works to better communicate climate, energy, and environmental issues to mainstream audiences. His reporting and work on climate change and clean energy have brought him from the streets of New York to the glaciers of eastern Greenland, to the mountain villages of Vietnam. read more»
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Friends of the Earth are quoted on the Guardian COP blog as saying it’s far too little and too much comes from already-pledged monies…but yes, it’s a move in the right direction.