Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Friday expressed concern at the Major Economies Forum in Paris that the Green Climate Fund (GCF) still has empty coffers despite being launched in 2009-10. He stressed that the need of the hour is quick capitalisation as climate actions cannot wait. The Initial Resource Mobilisation meeting in Oslo has hardly produced any results.
The Minister said capitalisation of the Green Climate Fund should be facilitated majorly by public financing in grant terms. Many countries are emphasising on private sector investment and climate investment as panacea for all ills. However, in our view the private sector can complement but not supplant public finance needed to address climate change and its impacts.
According to the Minister, the Green Climate Fund should be capitalised by 2015. This requires countries to agree to a road map for achieving this. We cannot reclassify Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) as climate finance. This would have critical bearing on the pre-2020 and the post 2020 climate agenda.