U.S. to double public climate finance to developing countries by 2024
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on tackling climate change prior to signing executive actions in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo reuters tickers
This content was published on April 22, 2021 - 17:27
April 22, 2021 - 17:27
By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday said it will boost public climate finance to help poor countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate, doubling funding by 2024 from average levels hit during the Obama administration.
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, in the lead up to President Biden’s Climate Summit, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced it will be net zero by 2040.
Kate DeAngelis, International Finance Program Manager at Friends of the Earth U.S., issued the following statement in response:
DFC’s broad-based restrictions on fossil fuel financing are a first for any U.S. institution, but still insufficient to address the true nature of the climate crisis. DFC should have taken the opportunity of the climate summit to once and for all end support for all fossil fuels immediately. In putting forward a net zero target, DFC is ignoring the lifetime and lifecycle emissions of its portfolio while putting off real climate action with dangerous and ineffective offsets.
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER, MATTHEW DALY and CHRISTINA LARSON
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) â The leaders of Russia and China put aside their raw-worded disputes with U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday long enough to pledge international cooperation on cutting climate-wrecking coal and petroleum emissions in a livestreamed summit showcasing America s return to the fight against global warming.
Neither Vladimir Putin nor Xi Jinping immediately followed the United States and some of its developed allies in making specific new pledges to reduce damaging fossil fuel pollution during the first day of the two-day U.S.-hosted summit. But climate advocates hoped the high-profile â if glitch-ridden â virtual gathering would kickstart new action by major polluters, paving the way for a November U.N. meeting in Glasgow critical to drastically slowing climate change over the coming decade.
Oil Change International
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
As part of its announced during today’s Leaders Summit on Climate, the Biden Administration committed to “end international investments in and support for carbon-intensive fossil fuel-based energy projects” at multilateral and bilateral finance agencies such as the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and U.S. Export-Import Bank.
While welcome, the announcement fell short of other recent commitments by other institutions and countries. In response to the announcement,
Collin Rees, Senior Campaigner at Oil Change International made the following statement:
“Today’s announcement by President Biden on international finance for fossil fuels is a welcome step, but the lack of firm commitments falls short of what’s needed. This is a missed opportunity to end a harmful U.S. climate legacy abroad and add to the growing momentum of other institutions ruling out all public finance for fossil fuels.
“Taking on climate change together is more than just the right thing to do, it’s also in everyone’s best interest,” Biden said during an international climate summit hosted by the White House. “Meeting this challenge is going to require mobilizing financing at an unprecedented scale.” Good ideas and good intentions aren t good enough. We need to ensure that the financing will be there, both public and private, to meet the moment on climate change and to help us seize the opportunity for good jobs, strong economies and a more secure world, he added later.
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The plan seeks to double the financing for the international programs by 2024 compared to fiscal 2013 through fiscal 2016, including tripling its finance for adaptation.