COP28: US pledges $3 bn for Green Climate Fund
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The United States has pledged USD 3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday in Dubai at the UN COP28 Climate Summit.
The fund, with more than USD 20 billion in pledges so far, is the largest international fund dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries, the media reported.
The latest pledge would be additional to another USD 2 billion previously delivered by the United States. However, the pledge was subject to the availability of funds. The politically divided US Congress needs to authorize the funding.
“Today I am also proud to announce a new USD 3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund which helps developing countries invest in resilience, clean energy, and nature-based solutions,” Vice President Harris said.
The fund’s facilitators said in October that the current second round of replenishments had brought in about USD 9.3 billion in pledges to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties between 2024 and 2027.
But, the pledges so far represent only a fraction of the roughly USD 250 billion that developing countries would need every year by 2030 just to adapt to a warmer world, according to the United Nations.
In addition to supporting climate adaptation, the fund also finances projects to help countries shift to clean energy.
Vice President Harris, who is representing the US at COP28 in place of President Joe Biden, is part of an American delegation that also includes climate envoy John Kerry and dozens of senior administration officials and cabinet members.
“It was important for both the US President and Vice President to ensure that a leader from the United States was at COP,” an official said, adding that Harris wanted to “make sure we are telling the world the story of progress that we have made in the US.”
