As countries debate a "rule book" at the U.N. climate conference in Poland, the least developed countries have asked for a focus on finance to help combat the effects of climate change.
The least developed countries called on developed nations to increase ambition on finance during the talks, as differences spark on technical terms of a rule book.
The rule book is expected to provide details on how to enforce the 2015 Paris accord by limiting global warming to between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.
The U.N. has a goal to raise $100 billion every year from 2020 for climate action. To inject momentum, the World Bank Group on Monday (December 3) said it would provide a further $200 billion over five years from the start of the next decade.
Total adaptation finance - all from government sources - was only $22 billion per year in 2015-2016, a report from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), an international think tank, said.
With the world already struggling with more destructive wildfires, storms, droughts and floods, that spending is "extremely low compared to the need", which U.N. Environment has estimated at $56 billion-$73 billion per year.
Ahead of the annual U.N. climate conference, U.N. figures published last month showed rich countries were on track to meet a goal of raising $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations go green and cope with climate shifts, analysts said.
Manuel Pulgar Vidal, the leader of the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) global climate and energy practice said the financial target wouldn't be enough to reach the goals of the Paris accord, however, if it was reached it would be a "political signal".
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters