WHILE the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement may leave a gaping hole in the Green Climate Fund (GCF), there is now potential for other countries to step up and fill that space.
Pacific Islands Climate Action Network co-ordinator Krishneil Narayan says that while the GCF will take a hit, this does not mean that it will not function.
The GCF, was set up under the framework of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change to help poor and vulnerable countries with climate adaptation projects.
It has so far amassed more than $10 billion in funding from the contributions of industrialised countries
Contributor countries had pledged funds for the Green Climate Fund with the US — under former President Barack Obama pledging $3 billion — $1 billion of which has already been given to the fund.
Fiji was one of the first countries to get funding from the Global Climate Fund in 2015, receiving approval for $31m of assistance that will go towards a $222m Fiji Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Management Project.
The remainder of the funds will be given through an ADB loan and other donors to help build new infrastructure to increase clean water supplies by 20 per cent and boost wastewater treatment capacity by 200 per cent in the greater Suva area.
“The Green Climate Fund is going to certainly take a major hit but that does not mean it’s not going to be functioning it’s yet to be seen how other countries fill that leadership gap,” Mr Narayan said.
“And there’s indications China and European Union might step up into this leadership arena and fill that gap left by the US so who’s going to take that leadership role? In the past when the United States was not part of the Climate Conference system and the agreements EU was playing that leadership role, China and India.”
US President Donald Trump had said the US would look to renegotiate the terms of the Paris Agreement, which Mr Narayan said could include the voluntary contributions to the fund.
“There was two scenarios, they could have stayed in that convention and tried to lower their commitments, but then the Paris agreement does not allow for any commitments to be lowered. Mr Trump wanted to lower this commitment and in this way he decided that he could only do this if he exits the Paris agreement.”