Climate Change Response (Multilateral)
FY2018 Funding Recommendation:
Funding History Enacted House/Senate FY2017 Request InterAction's FY2018 Recommendation ***Climate Change in Multilateral Accounts was a new program request for FY2017 |
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Justification
Key Facts |
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U.S. leadership is required to ensure a strong international response to climate change. U.S. multilateral climate investments, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), complement and leverage U.S. bilateral investments to promote low-carbon pathways and address the impacts of global temperature rise and extreme weather events, all of which disproportionately affect poor, vulnerable communities.
InterAction recommends $750 million for the GCF in FY2018. The GCF, which began operations in 2015 and has received more than $10 billion in pledges for its initial four years of work, is intended to be the primary financial mechanism to support developing country efforts to build low-carbon, climate-resilient economies. The GCF complements other existing multilateral climate change funds. Its innovative framework focuses on the development and implementation of country-level strategies and plans for climate resilience and low-carbon development, coupled with robust monitoring and evaluation. It focuses on particularly vulnerable countries, including least developed countries, small island states, and African nations.
The $10.2 billion in pledges for the GCF to date include a $3 billion U.S. pledge; substantial pledges of at least $1 billion each from France, Germany, Japan, and the U.K.; and smaller pledges from Australia, Canada, other European countries, and a number of nontraditional donor countries including Colombia, Mexico, Mongolia, Panama, Peru, and South Korea. China also committed $3.1 billion in South-South climate finance flows to build on these investments. The U.S. pledge of $3 billion – not to exceed 30% of total confirmed pledges by donors – builds on previous U.S. multilateral investments by President George W. Bush that consistently received bipartisan support. An appropriation of $750 million for FY2018 keeps the U.S. on the right path to fulfilling its pledge.