UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 21, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - US President Joe
Biden is expected to announce "good news" on addressing a shortfall in a $100
billion global climate fund, a UN official said Monday following a closed-
door meeting between countries on the sidelines of the general assembly.
Biden, who will make his first speech to the world body as the American
leader on Tuesday, was represented by his climate envoy John Kerry at the
meeting convened by Britain and UN chief Antonio Guterres.
Ahead of the Paris agreement, developed countries pledged to mobilize $100
billion a year from 2020 to support poorer nations with climate adaptation,
but there is currently around a $20 billion shortfall.
"We did hear from the US representative in the room that... some good news
was imminent," the UN official said, adding there were "really positive views
and signals coming from the US representative."
"We don't have the details, of course, but hopefully it will help to
provide that clarity on how the US intends to step up to support the
mobilization of the $100 billion."
The announcement was a sliver of hope on the climate front following a slew
of recent scientific reports painting a bleak picture of the planet's future,
as the world's top polluters continue to spew greenhouse gases at alarming
rates.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who co-hosted the meeting, took
leaders to task over their failure to honor their pledges for the fund, which
is meant to deliver $100 billion every year from 2020 to 2025.
"Everyone nods and we all agree that 'something must be done,'" said
Johnson, whose country will host the all-critical COP26 climate summit in
Glasgow in November.
"Yet I confess I'm increasingly frustrated that the something to which many
of you have committed is nowhere near enough," he added, in remarks shared by
his office.
Last week, the OECD confirmed that only $79.6 billion was mobilized in
2019.
"We heard from some of the industrialized countries... the faint signs of
progress," Johnson told reporters after the meeting, mentioning Sweden and
Denmark.
Both countries have announced they would allocate 50 percent or more of
their climate financing for adaptation in the developing world, another key
UN goal.
"Let's see what the president of the United States has to say tomorrow," he
added, hinting at the news to come.
- Transition from coal -
Britain for its part trumpeted its $15 billion climate finance pledges over
the next five years, and announced Monday that $750 million of that would be
allocated to supporting developing countries to meet net zero targets and end
the use of coal.
"We're the guys who created the problem -- the industrial revolution
started more or less in our country," said Johnson.
"So of course I understand the feelings of injustice in the developing
world... But I say to them, that's why we've got to get the funding to help
you to make the progress that you need."
The meeting came days after Guterres warned the world was on a
"catastrophic" path to 2.7 degrees Celsius heating, after the latest
bombshell report by UN scientists unveiled last week.
The figure would shatter the temperature targets of the Paris climate
agreement, which aimed for warming well below 2C and preferably capped at
1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Guterres told reporters he called the conference with Johnson as "a wake-up
call to instill a sense of urgency on the dire state of the climate process
ahead of COP26."
While recognizing "developing countries need to take the lead," the
secretary-general also called on "several emerging economies" to "go the
extra mile."
This is taken to mean the likes of China, India, Brazil, Russia, Indonesia
and South Africa.
The Paris agreement calls for net zero emissions by 2050, with strong
reductions by 2030, to meet the 1.5C goal.
With only 1.1C of warming so far, the world has seen a torrent of deadly
weather disasters intensified by climate change in recent months, from
asphalt-melting heat waves to flash floods and untamable wildfires.
