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$10.2 billion UN climate fund set to back first project in 2016

August 5, 2015

SEJONG, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) — The United Nations climate fund is ready to support its first project in 2016 after successfully signing donation agreements with 28 countries and selecting implementing entities, Seoul’s finance ministry said Wednesday.

Launched in late 2010, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) aims to channel money from industrialized nations to developing countries to help them tackle climate change-related problems. It is based in Songdo, west of Seoul.

According to the ministry, the GCF, which operates within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has secured US$5.8 billion in pledges as of July, with an additional $4.4 billion worth of donations to be secured by the end of the year.

Seoul has already pledged its $100 million share to the fund’s reserves, which will be used to finance GCF projects, it said.

The fund has also certified 20 implementing entities from both emerging and industrialized economies as well as UN organizations like the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Development Programme, the ministry said, adding the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the state-run Korea Development Bank are waiting to become implementing entities.

“Under the funds operating protocol, all projects will be selected by implementing entities and managed by them,” a ministry official said.

If all goes according to plan, the 11th board of directors meeting set for Zambia in November will pick the GCF’s first project, with the actual work to be launched next year, he added.

Details have not been released on the first project, except that the GCF will use grants and concessional loans to support endeavors. The fund will also allocate at least half of all resources to assist small, developing island states and least developed countries.