The leaders of Britain and France gave their backing on Friday to a global fund that would provide billions of dollars to poor countries to help them reduce the output of greenhouse gases linked to climate change.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the wealthiest nations should set aside the money as part of a climate agreement at next month’s UN summit on the issue in Copenhagen.
Sarkozy told reporters at a summit of government leaders from former British colonies that the fund should provide US$10 billion annually for the next three years to help poor countries fight deforestation and reduce carbon emissions as well as address effects of climate change.
“We can no longer afford to be unambitious,” he said of global climate efforts. “What is at stake here is the future of our planet.”
Brown outlined a somewhat different plan, issuing a statement that proposed a US$16.5 billion fund to which Britain would contribute US$1.3 billion. He said such an international commitment of money could help break a deadlock over emission cuts by reassuring poor nations they would receive help in making the transition.
“We have got to provide some money to help that,” Brown said. “Britain will do so, the rest of Europe will do so and I believe America will do so as well.”
Sarkozy was making what he said was the first appearance for a French president at the biennial meeting of the Commonwealth, a group of mostly former British colonies that comprises about a quarter of the world. He said he was motivated by the urgency of the environmental crisis facing the world.
He also urged US President Barack Obama to reconsider his decision to attend the climate conference in Copenhagen only on Dec. 9, before traveling to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. Sarkozy said his US counterpart should return for the decisions to be made during the final days of the Dec. 7 to Dec. 18 meeting.
“If we are not all there at the same time, then what kind of solution can we possibly come up with,” he said.
Sarkozy said he had spoken at the Commonwealth meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a key player in climate talks, in hopes of persuading him to got to Copenhagen and to agree to substantial cuts by India in its carbon dioxide emissions. India’s leader told him he was still consulting with his Cabinet on the matter, Sarkozy said.
Discussion of climate is dominating the Commonwealth meeting, with Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also in Trinidad to lobby the leaders in the 53-nation organization.
Loekke Rasmussen said financial aid for poor countries should be a key part of any agreement, and he insisted it should not come at the expense of other international efforts to reduce poverty.
“If developing countries are to be successful in the long run in their efforts to combating climate change we will need to provide substantially scaled up, new and additional financial resources for both mitigation and adaptation,” he said. “Copenhagen will have to provide an adequate answer to this.”
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