Industrialised nations fail to deliver on climate funding for developing world

Only two industrialised nations – Russia and Ukraine – have met the 1 May deadline agreed at last year’s Cancun Climate Change Summit to provide details on short-term funding for developing nations tackling climate change.

And according to Reuters, the letters from Russia and Ukraine to the United Nations climate change framework (UNFCC) say only that neither country believes it is ‘required’ to provide a contribution of the $30 billion ‘fast start’ fund for 2010-2012.

A number of developed nations, including the US, Japan and many EU member states agreed to contribute to the fund – and some financing was provided last year.

While the UN is confident that more updates will follow, according to Reuters, the passing of the 1 May deadline will fuel concerns that industrialised nations will fail to honour their commitment to assist developing countries.

The slow progress on raising the initial $30 billion is a setback to the deal, which ultimately promised $100 billion a year by 2020 to developing nations.

Last month the European Commission said the target of $100 billion a year by 2020 was ‘challenging but feasible’ despite the economic downturn across the region, while Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said the EU was “well on tract to deliver its fast start funding”.

But Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said that the financial constraints facing many nations rule out public funding and mean that alternative ‘innovative’ funding mechanisms will have to be found.

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