International climate policy: new meeting on financing in Geneva
Bern, 09.09.2011 - The international Committee in charge of designing the new Green Climate Fund will meet from 11 to 13 September 2011 in Geneva. The Fund will have to manage a large fraction of the $100 billion in investments that will be made starting in 2020 to support concrete mitigation actions in emerging and developing countries.
During the last Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, Member States decided that starting in 2020, $100 billion would be invested every year in emerging and developing countries to support their actions to decrease emissions.
Created by a decision during the Conference, the Green Climate Fund is to be one of the key instruments for raising the necessary funds from public and private means, as well as from other new and innovative sources. It should help to revive the climate change negotiations, which are in a impasse at the moment, among other due to financing issues.
The Committee (Transitional Committee for the Design of the Green Climate Fund), which will meet from 11 to 13 September 2011 in Geneva, has been entrusted by the Convention on Climate Change with the task of designing the structure and operations of the Green Climate Fund. This will specifically entail determining how the Fund is to be financed, which countries will have access to it and the role of the future Board that governs it. The Committee comprises forty experts on climate policy or financing, including Bruno Oberle, Director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment.
Two working sessions have already taken place. The Geneva Conference should serve to reconcile positions and clarify the various options (see fact sheet). The goal is to submit a draft proposal for adoption at the next UN Climate Change Conference in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.
Meeting with FOEN director on 13 September
Switzerland joined the works on the new climate fund at a very early stage. It had made a similar proposal during the negotiations after organising the Geneva Dialogue on Climate Change in September 2010. A meeting with FOEN director Bruno Oberle will be held in the afternoon of 13 September.
Interested journalists should contact Elisabeth Maret, Information Officer, FOEN, at +41 (0)79 371 62 82 by noon on Monday, 12 September (accreditation required).
Address for enquiries
Stefan Schwager, International Business Division, FOEN, +41 (0)79 82 84 605
Elisabeth Maret, Media Section, FOEN, +41 (0)79 371 62 82
Publisher
Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html
