Climate funding still area of concern: FM
WASHINGTON: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that climate funding remains an area of concern, especially the failure by developed countries to make good on their decadelong commitment to put $100 billion per year in developing countries to help them transition to clean technology and energy.
Addressing a press conference after the conclusion of her meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank on Friday evening, Sitharaman said, “One of the issues that I did raise and it is also something which many people do take cognisance of is we actually don’t know if there were any measures given to measure if money spent on a particular project by somebody will be part of that $100 billion.”
“So, what constitutes $100 billion? How do we measure if actually $100 billion has been given or only some of them has been given?
“So, not just that $100 billion per year is coming or not but how do we measure that it is indeed coming or not, is also one of the issues,” she added.
The minister said the climate funding brought up lingering issue regarding the transfer of technology, a key climate issue for developing countries.
“So funding is continuing to be a question of worry for many countries, as much as even the transfer of technology,” she said.
Sitharaman said several participants both in the IMF and World Bank meetings highlighted that issue.
“The issue is, again, as much as it is in the fund, do we know which technology that we are asking for transfer? Do we know which are those things which have to be considered for the debate and transfer of technology,” she said.