A whopping USD 650 billion was spent on climate change projects aimed at adaptation and emissions reduction across the globe in 2011-12, according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has also estimated that the the annual flow of public and private funds from developed to developing countries ranged from USD 40 to USD 175 billion during the period.
This is the largest assessment of climate project finance to date.
Executive Secretary of UNFCCC Christiana Figueres said that though the numbers were encouraging for developing countries to keep hope that they will be equitably compensated in 2015 Paris agreement, “the fact is that climate finance needs to be in the trillions if we’re going to get to where we need to be.”
Figueres said at a press conference that the proposed USD 100 billion budget for the Green Climate Fund intended to help poorer countries with climate efforts is “a small sum” and really just a symbol of the trust developing countries like India must have with developed countries committing funds.
“We’re talking about USD 90 trillion that will go into infrastructure over the next 15 years. The world needs to decide if that’s going to go into resilient infrastructure,” she said.
The UN has said that there are gaps in the data collected but it is working on a better methodology and project criteria.
Developing countries and civil society members have said the figures are flawed.
Even the UN reports that “around 95 per cent of global total climate finance is spent on mitigation or cutting emissions with 5 per cent on adaptation.”
This has been a major negotiating point for India and other developing countries as Susheel Kumar, interim head of the Indian delegation at the Lima talks, said “adaptation is critical to the country’s development paradigm.
PTI
