MEDIA ADVISORY
Thursday December 1st, 2011
Developed Nations – Led by US, UK and Japan – Try to turn green climate fund
into greedy corporate fund.
Durban, South Africa, Dec. 1, 2011? Today 163 civil society organisations
from 39 countries released a letter exposing an attempt led by the US, the
UK and Japan to turn the Green Climate Fund into a ?Greedy Corporate Fund?
at UN climate talks in South Africa. [1]
The Green Climate Fund was created to support people in developing countries
? people who are the most affected by the climate crisis but are the least
responsible for it.
But at the climate negotiations this week, developed countries are trying to
allow multinational corporations and financiers to directly access GCF
financing.
This means companies could bypass developing country governments and their
national climate strategies to get to public money.
?Turning the Green Climate Fund into a Greedy Corporate Fund would be
shameful, yet this is what is being attempted at the Durban climate talks,?
said Meena Raman from Third World Network.
?Led by the US and the UK on behalf of Wall Street and The City, this
attempt to hijack developing countries? funding is outrageous.
Communities need this money to address climate change and to finance
their own development ? without repeating the same mistakes that the rich
countries have made,? said Karen Orenstein from Friends of the Earth US.
?The role of private investment in financing climate activities must be
decided at the national and sub-national levels in line with countries?
priorities, not corporate bottom lines. The move to allow the private sector
to go directly to the Green Climate Fund for money undermines the
possibility of a democratic, participatory process for meeting the needs of
communities struggling to fight climate change,? said Lidy Nacpil of
Jubilee South Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development.
Few adaptation measures in developing countries will be attractive to the
private sector, as they will not generate revenue. Some key mitigation
programs may also not be financially lucrative.
Groups also warned against closed door negotiations on the Green Climate
Fund by South Africa, the US, and other developed countries.
?Whatever happens in Durban must be fully transparent. We are deeply
concerned by reports that South Africa is informally consulting behind
closed doors on the Green Climate Fund decision,? said Bobby Peek of
groundwork / Friends of the Earth South Africa. ?This will greatly undermine
the legitimacy, and ultimately the effectiveness, of the Green Climate
Fund.?
The concerns expressed in the letter come on top of the long-held rejection
by many in civil society of any role for the World Bank in the Green Climate
Fund.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Meena Raman, Third World Network, Mobile: + 27 (0) 72 26 18 870 (valid only
until Dec. 9)
Lidy Nacpil, Jubilee South Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development,
Tel: + 27 (0) 767342705 (valid only until Dec. 9)
Karen Orenstein, Friends of the Earth US: Tel: + 27 (0) 72 04 32 655 (valid
only until Dec. 9)
Bobby Peek, groundWork/Friends of the Earth South Africa, Tel: +27 (0) 82
46 41 383
Murray Worthy, World Development Movement, Tel: +27 (0) 83 96 89 917
Janet Redman, Institute for Policy Studies, Tel: +27 (0) 713861216 (valid
only until Dec. 9)