Finance is the key issue among the parties in climate conference that began last Monday in coal fired capital city of Poland, Warsaw.
Participants had long complicated discussion on financing for adaptation, mitigation, and technology transfer in the last couple of days.
Makoto Kato, member of the Japan delegation told bdndews24.com: “The finance has been the key issue in last week’s discussion. Though, we talked on private and public source of financing. But public finance should play very important role to mobilise private funding.”
“Preparation for green climate fund is now in process,” Kato said.
He said, “It is something we are stepping forward. Yesterday and today we had long discussion. Something is coming out. But we are still in the middle of the process.”
The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, also told the journalist here in Warsaw that finance would be a key issue in the conference, and that it was critical that there was a clarity on how countries were going to mobilise over time the US $100 billion funding that has been pledged for 2020 and when that should be on the table.
Reporting the progress of negotiation, Figueres noted that discussions were going on, looking at how the US $100 billion would be mobilised before 2020 and after 2020 when the new global climate agreement to be agreed in 2015 comes into force.
Figueres told at a press conference on Friday, “I hope that here in Warsaw there is clarity on how countries are going to mobilise over time the funding that has been pledged for 2020, and that is the main challenge we have here in Warsaw.”
In 2009, developed nations proposed in Copenhagen US $10 billion annually for climate action in developing countries from 2010 to 2012 and further agreed to increase this to US $100 billion annually by 2020.
In Warsaw, it is expected that countries will agree on a roadmap for further scaling up support to reach US $100 billion target by 2020.
Figueres also said Parties in Warsaw were working towards the 2015 agreement although no text has emerged yet but that they were exploring what they would want to see on each of the four pillars that are going to form part of the agreement, which are mitigation, finance, adaptation and technology.
“Work is being done but there are no concrete results to report on yet. All items under negotiation are being considered and discussed by parties,” she stated.
According to Figueres, difficult issues going into next week that might require political guidance when the high-level segment on finance, loss and damage as well as the new 2015 agreement begins.
