COPENHAGEN CLIMATE ACCORD FACES $30B AID TEST

Alister Doyle
OSLO/ REUTERS

Rich nations are pledging almost USS3O billion in aid from 2010-12 to help the poor combat climate change in an early test of last months Copenhagen Accord that is vague about conditions and who gets cash. Donors will probably have to decide for themselves how to spend money in 2010 since there is no mechanism to guide handouts. A ""Copenhagen Green Climate Fund"", also planned by last months low-ambition summit, does not yet exist.
""The expectation is that donor countries will deliver through existing bilateral and multilateral channels of their own choosing,"" Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change said of the fasttrack funds.""There are some legal hiccups created by the accord not being a [UN] instrument,"" said Gordon Shepherd, director of international policy at the WWF environmental group. But he said a flow of funds could help build trust between rich and poor.
The Copenhagen Accord, worked out by top emitters led by China and the United States, aims to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times. It did not win formal backing as a UN pact after opposition from several developing nations including Venezuela and Sudan.
Supporters are now due to sign up by Jaa 31. Aid pledges for 2010-12 include about S15 billion by Japan and €7.3 billion (S10.32 billion) by the European Union.The United States has more than Sl billion for climate aid in 2010 is a leading donor in a 2010-12 plan worth S3.5 billion with Australia, France, Japan, Norway and Britain to slow deforestation. Many of the offers have conditions attached.
In New Delhi on Sunday, China, India, Brazil and South Africa said the release of SIO billion in 2010 would show the rich countries commitment to help. They promised to submit their own climate action plans to the United Nations by Jan. 31.In Tokyo, a senior official said Japan was ready to contribute from 2010. Exact spending would be decided later.""Japan will insist countries ... step up their acknowledgement to the Copenhagen Accord as Japan is ready to play its own part,"" a senior Japanese official said.