Hollande Says France to Offer $1b to Climate Fund for Poor

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday announced that France will contribute $1 billion to a near-empty global fund to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change as he addressed the United Nation's summit on climate change.

"France will contribute a billion dollars over the next few years," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said he wants more than 120 world leaders to make "bold pledges" about climate change at the New York summit but few developed countries have offered funds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel had been the only leader to make a large contribution, pledging $1 billion over four years in July to the fund known as the Green Climate Fund. Developing countries have called for a target total of $15bln in 2014.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Howard Goller)