Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday expressed concern over the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) empty coffers.
The GCF was launched in 2009-10.
In his address at the Major Economies Forum (MEF) in Paris, Mr. Javadekar said all eyes were on Paris as a new climate change agreement was to come into being here in 2015. Stating that the need of the hour was quick capitalisation of the GCF as climate action could not wait, Mr Javadekar said the Initial Resource Mobilisation (IRM) meeting in Oslo had hardly produced any result.
He said the GCF should be facilitated in a major way by public financing in grants. While many countries were emphasising private sector investment and climate investment as a panacea for all ills, the Minister said the private sector could only complement but not supplant the public finance needed to address climate change and its impacts.
Calling for the GCF to be capitalised by 2015, Mr. Javadekar said this required countries to agree to a road map. He was categorical that the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) could be reclassified as climate finance. This would have a critical bearing on the pre-2020 and the post-2020 climate agenda, he said.
