US commits $3bn to Green Climate Fund at COP28 sources

DUBAI:

The United States will commit $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday as Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Dubai for the UN climate summit.

The fund, with more than $20 billion in commitments, is the largest international fund dedicated to supporting climate action in developing countries.

The latest pledge, which Reuters first reported, will be in addition to another $2 billion previously committed by the United States. The sources said the commitment is subject to the availability of funds.

Harris was expected to announce the pledge later on Saturday in a speech at the COP28 summit.

Trustees of the fund said in October that the current second round of replenishment had yielded about $9.3 billion in commitments to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties between 2024 and 2027.

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Even so, the pledges so far represent a fraction of the roughly $250 billion that developing countries would need each year through 2030 just to adapt to a warmer world. In addition to supporting climate adaptation, the fund also finances projects to help countries shift to clean energy.

A US climate official said the vice president would say at the summit that the world needs to “make sure everyone is at the table and everyone steps up. Everyone needs to step up.”

Harris, who is representing the United States at COP28 in place of President Joe Biden, is part of a US delegation that also includes climate envoy John Kerry and dozens of senior officials.

“It was important for both the president and the vice president to make sure that a leader from the United States was at the COP,” one official said, adding that Harris wanted to “make sure we tell the world the story of the progress we’ve made in USA”