Signatories to Paris climate change deal in dispute over financing

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(China Today Thursday 13 April 2017)

Signatories to Paris climate change deal in dispute over financing

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Published: 4:00 AM, April 13, 2017

BEIJING — A gap of at least US$40 billion (S$56 billion) in financing commitments is hampering efforts to combat climate change, warn signatories to the Paris agreement, as they try to keep the deal going in the face of doubts over United States support under President Donald Trump.

Disputes over who will foot the bill come as the Trump administration’s Energy Secretary, Mr Rick Perry, scuppered a joint statement about climate change at a Group of Seven (G7) energy meeting in Rome this week.

The Paris agreement to limit global temperature rises to less than 2°C includes financial commitments from developed countries to help developing nations deal with climate change. Before its adoption, it was agreed this amount should reach US$100 billion a year. However, it has been estimated that only US$60 billion has been committed so far.

Climate ministers from Europe, India, Brazil and South Africa have gone to Beijing in recent weeks, hoping to sustain momentum from the Paris talks, despite the Trump administration’s dismantling of US regulations meant to limit American emissions. But discussions have quickly run up against the issue of financing.

“Developed countries have not met their commitments. In their reports, a lot of their commitment is in the form of development aid. That doesn’t meet the commitment to contribute to new funds,” China’s top climate change negotiator Xie Zhenhua told a briefing on Tuesday. “A lot of countries don’t want to chip in. I said to the European minister: That’s your problem as developed countries. It’s your responsibility to work together and sort it out.”

Mr Xie’s meeting with Mr Miguel Arias Canete, the European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, in Beijing two weeks ago involved “uncharted waters” regarding “differences in approaches to climate financing”, Mr Canete told the Financial Times in an interview after their meeting.

“We are seeing there is a country, the largest in the world, that has announced policies that means they will never reach their targets,” he said, referring to the US.

“Now that the US will not play the role (of a major partner) we are obliged to intensify our efforts to develop the Paris agreement.”

Beijing has aligned itself with developing countries and does not count among contributors to the intended US$100 billion, although it has established a separate, US$3.1 billion “south-south co-operation fund”.

It views spending on infrastructure in developing countries as benefiting its own prowess in dam construction or wind turbine and solar panel manufacturing. Mr Xie said the scale of investment in equipment and infrastructure investment needed by 2030 would translate into “job opportunities”.

Meanwhile, red tape prevents funds that have been committed from flowing to developing counties, said Mr Ravi Prasad, India’s Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, calling the US$60 billion in commitments “highly suspicious” since the sum included previously allocated funds including aid. “When we go behind the numbers, we find there has been a reclassification of the bilateral flows,” said Mr Prasad.

Mr Xie said: “Enthusiasm isn’t the problem but there are some doubts. I believe other countries feel the same.” FINANCIAL TIMES