Hosts of GCF meeting hope contribution will encourage other countries to fill fund’s coffers
Source: Flickr/LisArt
By Sophie Yeo
Indonesia has pledged US$ 250,000 to the Green Climate Fund, a move they hope will spark further contributions from other countries.
A meeting in Bali this week seeks to lay the groundwork so that the GCF can become fully operational later this year.
Indonesia’s deputy minister of finance, Bambang Brodjonegoro, made the announcement today at a reception hosted by the government of Indonesia.
His pledge means that Indonesia has become the second developing country to contribute money to the GCF, after South Korea pledged $40 million last year to help with work establishing exactly how the Fund will function.
The GCF was set up by the UN in 2010 as a channel for the money that governments will contribute towards tackling climate change.
Developed countries have promised to donate $100 billion every year as from 2020. Developing countries have no formal obligation to provide funds, which makes Indonesia’s pledge particularly significant.
A number of developed countries have also made contributions, including Germany, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Finland and the Netherlands.
“I think it’s a really laudable gesture, demonstrating that some developing countries are really committed to making the GCF work,” said Smita Nakhooda, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, who is attending the talks in Bali. “It’s been a difficult set of talks, but this inserts some much needed positivity I think.”
It is not clear yet whether this money will go towards setting up the Fund itself, or go directly towards funding climate change projects.
A spokesperson at the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) said the government would wait until the latest round of talks conclude before deciding on their own contribution.
“We will make an assessment of the value for money of the GCF relative to alternatives and its potential to achieve its objectives once the main design elements have been agreed,” they said.