Bangladesh has sought $69 billion in grants from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) until 2030, to implement its emissions reduction and climate change adaptation plans, as the COP21 finance negotiations entered a critical phase.
Forest and Environment Secretary Dr Kamaluddin Ahmed put forward the demand at a presentation on the country’s climate plan – known as the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) – on the third day of the global climate conference in Paris, France.
The grant was sought as climate finance negotiations entered a decisive turning point as the United States and its allies proposed that developing countries also contribute to the fund.
Some 185 out of the total of 195 countries attending had so far submitted their INDC plans. Conference president Laurent Fabius termed the massive participation an “unprecedented and historic” response.
Bangladesh said $42bn of the amount sought would be spent on adaptation measures and the remaining $27bn on mitigation.
“You [the rich countries] have made the climate vulnerable for us over the last two centuries, and we are now facing the impact,” Forest and Environment Minister Anwar Hossain Manju told reporters after the meeting on Wednesday night, explaining why countries like Bangladesh need enhanced funding.
“We need the funds to protect us from the risks of climate change impacts,” he said.
Earlier, the minister had told the Dhaka Tribune that Bangladesh’s strategy would be to get as much funding as possible to implement ongoing and future projects related to climate change.
Bangladesh informed the meeting on INDCs that the country was not sitting idle and had already spent around $10bn over the last three decades. The country had formed a $400-million Climate Trust Fund of its own to implement 236 projects, including 40 that have already been implemented.
The implemented projects include the building of embankments, cyclone shelters, re-excavation of canals, innovation of saline water-resilient seeds, afforestation and the promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Closed-door negotiations on financing remained uncertain as the US and its allies now want developing countries to contribute to the GCF too.
A negotiator who was present at the meeting said the Umbrella grouping had adopted the strategy of bypassing their responsibility as polluters – going against agreed-upon United Nations principles.
In accordance with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), developed countries pledged to provide funds to poor countries to help them reduce emissions and adapt to climate change. They committed in 2009 to annually give $100bn by 2020.
“This is just to delay the talks or to put the finance text under brackets,” said the negotiator, explaining that the developed countries were hoping to leave certain planks of the text subject to further discussion.
The ADP co-chair held a presentation on the ADP yesterday when the US negotiator said they prefer to have the agreement as an encouragement instead of a legally binding one.