Stepping up fast-start climate financing commitments – taking action on adaptation needs of the most vulnerable countries.
As part of the collective commitment by developed countries to provide fast-start climate finance resources approaching USD 30 billion for developing countries in the period 2010-2012, the European Union undertook at the Copenhagen conference in 2009 to jointly mobilize 7,2 billion EUR in support of climate adaptation, mitigation and related technology transfer. Hungary contributes to this fast-start pledge with 6 million EUR, being disbursed in three installments of progressively increasing amounts. The first installment of 1 million EUR has been donated to the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) operating under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). With this staid action, Hungary became one of the first donors in Central Europe to invest in climate adaptation for least developed countries, which are most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.
Hungary - presiding the work of the Council of the European Union in the first semester of 2011, and candidate to the UN Security Council for 2012-2013 - sees sustainable development as only feasible through a path of environmentally sustainable economic growth and social progress, which however requires fighting global climate challenges. With this contribution, Hungary wishes to assist the poorest countries most in need, for which climate change cannot be tackled by domestic initiatives alone.
About the Global Environment Facility
Established in 1991, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) unites 182 member governments - in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector - to address global environmental issues. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants. These projects benefit the global environment, linking local, national and global environmental challenges, and promoting sustainable livelihoods.
The GEF, as operating financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is today the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. The GEF has allocated $9.2 billion, supplemented by more than $40 billion in co-financing, for more than 2,700 projects in more than 165 developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has also made more than 12,000 small grants directly to nongovernmental and community organizations, totaling $495 million.
About the LDCF
The Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was established under the UNFCCC at it seventh session in Marrakech in 2001. The Fund addresses the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which are especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. This includes preparing and implementing National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPAs), the aim of which is to identify urgent and immediate needs of each LDC.
About the SCCF
The Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was also established under the UNFCCC in 2001 to finance activities, programs and measures relating to climate change that are complementary to those funded by the resources allocated to the Climate Change Focal Area of the GEF and by bilateral and multilateral funding. The SCCF is similarly managed by the GEF.
In 2010, $181 million in new pledges were made to the LDC and SCCF; today the total commitment from donors amounting to $412 million, ($262 million to LDCF and $150 million for the SCCF respectively). Currently LDCF and SCCF support 67 projects in more than 70 countries: the LDCF has 23 projects under implementation. Another 20 have been approved and will be in force later this year.
(kormany.hu)
