Political leaders disappointed in climate finance and slow progress

Cancun, 8 December (Hilary Chiew) – President Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia lamented that the promise of Copenhagen has been lost and called for the US$30 billion fast start finance to be made available immediately.

Revealing personally for the first time the delivery status of the US$30 billion fast start finance,
Zenawi said the general opinion in Africa is that the money has yet to be delivered and that
reports of money delivered has little evidence to the ground.

Speaking at the High-level Segment of the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 6th COP acting as the Meeting of the Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) which opened yesterday, Zenawi said the fast start finance has to be delivered if we want to deliver trust and there has to be transparency in the delivery to address this concern.

(Zenawi was referring to the financial pledges made by developed countries under the controversial Copenhagen Accord at COP 15 last December. The document was not adopted by the COP but only “taken note of”.)

Echoing Ethiopia’s concern, Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga told the assembly comprising several heads of state and ministers of environment that it was learnt that only 30% of the US$30 billion fast start finance was delivered but it is not at all clear how much of the money is truly additional money, and that they are more in the form of loans than grants.

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