UN Climate Chief: Consensus Building on Climate Financing for Poor

As the Copenhagen climate summit approaches, international consensus is building for a short-term financing deal under which wealthy nations would contribute $10 billion a year for the next three years to "kick-start" climate financing for poorer countries.

Today, the White House gave that plan and the summit itself a much-needed shot of adrenaline.

In an official statement, the White House announced that President Obama supports the "kick-start" plan and has decided to shift his appearance at the Copenhagen talks from Dec. 9 to Dec. 18, to be there during the summit's crucial final days.

"This week, the president discussed the status of the negotiations with Prime Minister Rudd, Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown and concluded that there appears to be an emerging consensus that a core element of the Copenhagen accord should be to mobilize $10 billion a year by 2012 to support adaptation and mitigation in developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable and least developed countries that could be destabilized by the impacts of climate change," the White House statement said.

"The United States will pay its fair share of that amount, and other countries will make substantial commitments as well."

The world should not expect any agreement on long-term funding this year, though. While Copenhagen should offer at least "the prospect" of stable dollar commitments, even this will be "a big challenge," UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer told reporters earlier this week.

The hurdles to sealing a long-term financing deal include the basics: how much money is needed to fend off the effects of greenhouse gas emissions and who will pay what.

Reaching a short-term funding accord in Copenhagen could help unclog the long-term financing impasse, de Boer said.

The White House statement agreed that world leaders need to work toward a longer-term financing plan, but it offered no numbers:

"We also need to address the need for financing in the longer term to support adaptation and mitigation in developing countries," the official statement said. "Providing this assistance is not only a humanitarian imperative — it’s an investment in our common security, as no climate change accord can succeed if it does not help all countries reduce their emissions."

The kick-start financing plan came out of the European Union last month. During the summit of Commonwealth leaders last week, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pitched the idea of $10 billion per year from 2010 to 2012 to assist developing nations; the 53 nations of the Commonwealth backed it.

The money primarily would be used to help developing countries adapt to the immediate impacts of climate change, de Boer said. It would also carry another benefit — time.

The $10 billion a year would help poor nations "prepare the solid adaptation and mitigation strategies that the world will need in order to be able to estimate real costs over time," de Boer said.

Estimating long-term financial needs is not an exact science. There are "ballpark" figures on the table for what is needed by 2020 and 2030, but they are "not precise," he added.

Experts assert that worldwide investment to fight global warming in poorer nations would need to reach at least $100 billion per year by 2020. In November, hopes were high that the G20 countries would advance a pledge supporting this figure. But in the end, the summit failed to produce results.

Developing nations have cautiously welcomed plans for starter financing. Some climate advocates say the amount is grossly inadequate, while others accuse the rich of using "fast-track" money to buy off the poor in the absence of a legally binding climate deal.