UN Chief Urges Rapid Increase of Climate Change Fund

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged greater efforts to mobilize funding to address climate change, especially to support developing countries.

    "Finance and investment hold the key to achieving low-emissions and resilient societies," Mr. Ban said in remarks read by his Special Advisor on Climate Change, Bob Orr, to a High-Level Ministerial dialogue on climate financing at the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), according to UN news center.

    The UN chief underscored that one of the core objectives of the Paris Agreement, which entered into force on 4 November 2016, is "to make all finance flows consistent with a pathway to low-emissions climate-resilient development." He noted that there has been progress, in particular in renewable energy.

    Last December at the previous Conference, known as COP 21, 196 Parties to the UNFCCC adopted the Paris Agreement, so-named after the French capital where it was approved. It aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

    The Agreement entered into force in time for COP 22, which has been under way since 7 November. Before the meeting wraps up on Saturday, 18 November, parties hope to define the rules of implementation of the Paris Agreement and establish a viable plan to provide financial support to developing countries to support climate action.

    The Secretary-General noted that in Paris, governments collectively reaffirmed their 2009 pledge to mobilize 100 billion dollars per year by 2020, and to continue financing at this level until 2025 to support climate action by developing countries. "This goal is within reach – if we stay focused," he said.

Source: QNA