Berlin will contribute 500 million euros more to the fight against climate change

Germany announced on Saturday that it will contribute 500 million euros more to finance the fight of the least developed countries against global warming and advocated defining in 2021 a mechanism that sets how industrialized countries will predictably make these contributions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in charge of making this announcement by speaking, by videoconference, at the 2020 Climate Ambition Summit convened by the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, to promote that the international community advances towards the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

“All states must be able to finance the necessary investments in climate protection. That is why capital should be available in good condition. Germany wants to make available an extra 500 million euros,” he said.

However, the chancellor considered it necessary to take a step further in the field of financing the fight against climate change, a key element of the Paris Agreement that has caused frequent confrontations between industrialized countries and developing economies.

It is about the amount that each country must contribute, depending on its emissions – also historical ones – and its capacity, but also with criteria of transparency, sufficiency and predictability.

“I am in favour of us starting at the international level a process for the financing of the fight against climate change post-2020 and that we conclude it for COP26,” he added in reference to the next Climate Summit, which will be held at the end of 2021 in Glasgow (Scotland).

In addition, he urged to move from words to deeds coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty by which the vast majority of countries – with the exception of the United States – have committed to reduce their emissions so that the increase in temperatures does not exceed 2 degrees with respect to pre-industrial levels.

“Setting ambitious goals as an international community is one thing. To reach it, a different one. We want both. That is the signal that I want to come out of COP26,” the foreign minister stressed.

Merkel, who said that Germany “is aware of its responsibility” in this fight, recalled that her country has decided to abandon nuclear energy (2022) and thermal energy (2038), promote renewables and that it expands from next year the CO emissions market₂ to transport and heating.

He also pointed out that, as promised, Germany has increased its budget line for climate finance to 4 billion euros for this year. “And also in the future Germany will continue to make an adequate contribution,” he added.

In this context, he said that Germany has committed 160 million euros for the Green Recovery Initiative that has been launched by the World Bank together with several countries.

Source: The Vanguard