Press Release, 8th December 09

Danish government plans are undermining developing countries’ call for a new global climate fund to be managed by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), says ActionAid after documents were leaked today.

The Danish government appears to be falling in line with other developed countries calling for the World Bank to handle climate finance, according to the latest draft documents.

“The World Bank has a very poor record dealing with development and environmental sustainability,” said Harjeet Singh, ActionAid’s climate change advisor, at the Copenhagen Summit. “It’s ironic it’s being suggested as the way forward.”

“The World Bank is not a democratic institution and in the past, has often favoured rich countries. Where does that leave the least developed countries?” he added.

“We need a new global climate fund to be placed under the authority of the UNFCCC where there is an equitable say in decision-making and where money can be channelled for the specific and long-term needs of countries.”

Rich countries must acknowledge that the climate funds are compensation, paying off their climate debt, not aid.

Funds must be channelled through a body that is both democratic and transparent. Institutional arrangements where the World Bank is the administrator of climate funds is unacceptable given its undemocratic structure and continued role in supporting and financing carbon heavy investments

Any global deal on targets for mitigation and adaptation will be agreed under the UNFCCC. It is therefore logical that the climate finance needed to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and to enable them to adapt is channelled to them through an institution fully accountable to and under the control of the UNFCCC.

• Beating Climate Change: Who pays and how much?
• More on Copenhagen
• Climate Change around the world and how it is affecting real lives now
• Rich countries' Climate Debt and how they can repay it, an ActionAid rough guide (PDF)

Image note:
55 year old Urmila Devi poses for a photograph, behind her is the flooded farm land and abondoned huts. She survives by selling toddy, the occupation she had to take over from her husband who is unable to walk as he fell from a tree. The recent floods swept away her house, and the structure of the house is still under water. She received very little relief from the government and the a loan of Rs. 50,000 (US, 265) is still due to the money lender. India, October 2007. ©Sanjit Das/ActionAid