U.S. Could Make Cllimate Fund Pledge

The United States may make a major contribution to a fund in November that would help poor countries prepare for and combat climate change, said the foreign minister of Peru, the country hosting a crucial round of climate negotiations in December.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told him on Oct. 8 that the world's second biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China may announce a major injection of money into the Green Climate Fund (GCF) created by the United Nations, to which $2.3 billion has so far been pledged by 10 countries.

"He (Kerry) says that the U.S. is considering seriously to make a significant announcement even before the Lima conference, probably next month," Gutierrez said in a speech at Johns Hopkins University's Washington DC conference on Thursday evening.

The State Department declined to comment.

Filling the fund, which aims to help poor nations develop cleaner energy and adapt to increased flooding and droughts, is seen as a key element necessary to secure a global deal to tackle climate change due in Paris in late 2015.

Peru will host a crucial summit in the first two weeks of December in Lima that Gutierrez hopes will result in a concrete draft to be finalized and agreed in the French capital.

A substantial capitalization of the fund before negotiators arrive in Lima in December "will be a very important signal for the entire negotiation process," Gutierrez said.

At a high-profile summit of world leaders hosted by the UN last month, eight countries committed a total of $1.325 billion to the fund by the end of 2014, adding to the $960 million pledged by Germany and $40 million by Sweden prior to that.

In 2010, industrialized nations had agreed to provide a target of $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries deal with climate change.

Since then, the GCF has been officially launched and opened its headquarters in Seoul, South Korea in 2013.

GCF officials have said it wants to see $10 billion pledged by the end of 2014 for the first years of its operation.

Aid charity Oxfam said the amount pledged since 2010 has merely trickled in and falls well short of the $15 billion it thinks is necessary for developed nations to commit to the fund for its first three years of operation.

It has said that a "fair share" by the United States would be a pledge of around $4.8 billion, while the EU should commit $6 billion, Japan $2.3 billion and Canada $600 million.

The GCF will host a two-day "pledging conference" on Nov. 19 and 20, where it expects a new wave of pledges will be made ahead of the Lima conference.

Reporting By Valerie Volcovici