Solutions for Climate Australia has welcomed the announcement by the Albanese Government that Australia would rejoin the Green Climate Fund, as confirmed at the pledging conference held in Bonn, Germany overnight.
The Morrison Government’s decision to withdraw from the multilateral fund in 2018 was rash, required years of diplomatic repair and removed Australia from globally coordinated efforts to fund climate adaptation in our own region.
‘The workings of a fund the size and scale of the Green Climate Fund may be complex, but Australia’s decision to rejoin is simply a good one,’ said Dr Barry Traill, director of Solutions for Climate Australia. ‘The Green Climate Fund delivers predictable, long-term and grant-based finance. Exactly what communities and leaders in the Pacific have been asking for, and exactly what Australia is obliged to provide to be taken seriously.’
The Green Climate Fund is financing world-leading locally-led climate adaptation programming in the Pacific, including substantial programs in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. By rejoining the Fund and complementing its financial contributions with previously-announced technical assistance to support more Pacific island states to access funding, Australia is taking its commitments to both the Pacific and the Paris Agreement seriously.
To date, Australia has only delivered 34 per cent of its calculated fair share of global climate finance. ‘Overnight, countries made concrete pledges in the millions and billions,’ said Dr Traill. ‘We look forward to seeing Australia contribute a concrete sum commensurate with not only its ambitions to be seen as a global leader on climate, but with the scale of the climate crisis in our region. As a continuing huge coal and gas exporter Australia has a duty to support poorer countries in dealing with the consequences of global heating.’
Contact details:
Director of Solutions for Climate Australia Dr Barry Traill: 0448 793 334.
Senior International Climate Campaigner Erin Ryan: 0410 678 795.