Rich countries are not yet living up to their promise to help poor countries tackle climate change. By 2020, an annual UN climate fund of 100 billion climate aid should be available. Rich countries say they themselves donate around 60 billion. Development organization Oxfam keeps it in a report published Tuesday at 19 to 22.5 billion.
The difference lies in various forms of creative accounting, says Oxfam Novib. For example, of the $ 59.5 billion that donor countries themselves say they are donating, according to the report, 47 billion is actually a loan, with profitability in about half of the cases being a condition.
In addition, Oxfam Novib says that some donor countries are investing money in projects that only partly consist of climate measures. Then the full value of that project is put on the books as climate aid.
Betram Zagema, Oxfam Novib’s climate expert and one of the authors of the report, calls the use of loans as climate aid a “gross scandal”. According to Zagema, the countries are often already suffering from the repayment of unsustainable debts. “They should not be forced to agree to additional loans for a climate crisis they did not cause.”
There are also some differences between countries. Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom mainly donate, while France lends almost all climate aid. According to the report, the Netherlands is not guilty of over-reporting, but is also not noticeable because of the large amounts donated.
UN climate fund was the only major success at Copenhagen climate summit
Financial climate aid is one of the pillars of the UN climate treaty. The idea is that many poor countries are much less responsible for climate change due to their lower emissions, while they will suffer a lot of damage as a result.
Therefore, in 2009, on the much discussed Climate Summit in Copenhagen, an agreement reached on a major financing cooperation. Rich countries would donate USD 100 billion annually to a fund. Half of that amount is intended to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change, the other half as aid in reducing emissions.
The most extreme example of countries in need are small island states that are in danger of becoming completely uninhabitable due to sea level rise. These countries now receive 3 percent of the money, according to Oxfam Novib.
In the report Oxfam Novib looks at the figures for 2017 and 2018. In Copenhagen it was agreed that the annual climate fund must be ready by 2020. The figures for this year are not yet known. “You could therefore say that countries still have two years to fulfill their 2009 commitment,” Zagema told NU.nl.
In addition to countries, companies can also donate to the UN climate fund
Formally, the full amount does not have to be coughed up by rich countries. The target concerns 100 billion euros from public and private sources. The countries provide the public money. Should a gap remain, it is therefore hoped that a few philanthropic billionaires and multinationals will emerge – preferably with an annual contribution.
– .
