Climate finance will be on the top of the minds of negotiators as the UN conference on climate change at Doha enters the second week on December 3. In the first seven days of the conference, the developed countries shied away from promising more money from next year until 2020 to developing countries to undertake mitigation and adaptation measures. The US $30 billion fast-start funding which started in 2010 ends this year and the next batch of funding, which is still under deliberation, begins only in 2020.
The developing countries, collectively called G77+China, want an interim fund of $60 billion by 2015. They do not want to go back from Doha without a commitment from the rich nations on this fund. Although differences exist among the developing countries on other issues, they stand untied on finance. In the last informal negotiations on November 30, the Alliance of Small Island Nations (AOSIS) said that finance was an issue that could either make or break the climate change negotiations.
Demand for interim funds
The G77+China wants this money to be routed to them in two ways. One, direct assistance; two, through an agency or a body which will facilitate the transfers. The proposal states “that the main sources of funding by developed country Parties will be public sources, with supplementary financing from other sources, including consideration of alternative sources, subject to measurement, reporting and verification procedures of support as may be agreed upon.”
