File photo of French President Francois Hollande (Agence France-Presse)
French President Francois Hollande announced on Tuesday in New York that Paris would contribute up to $1 billion to the UN's global Green Climate Fund (GCF), which helps poorer nations finance climate change reform.
The GCF faces a key test at the UN summit as it looks to the leaders of the industrialized world to stump up billions of dollars to fill its underflowing coffers.
"France will contribute up to $1 billion in the coming years," Hollande told the summit hosted by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Previously only Germany had come up with a substantial commitment, pledging around $1.0 billion dollars in July.
The South Korea-based fund was born out of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, when developed countries made a political commitment to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries by 2020.
The GCF was set up to channel funding from wealthy to poorer nations, helping them shift their development pathways towards a greener track and shore up defenses against climate peril.
The fund currently has around $55 million in its coffers, while Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has called for an initial capitalization of $10 billion by the end of the year.
The GCF faces a key test at the UN summit as it looks to the leaders of the industrialized world to stump up billions of dollars to fill its underflowing coffers.
"France will contribute up to $1 billion in the coming years," Hollande told the summit hosted by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Previously only Germany had come up with a substantial commitment, pledging around $1.0 billion dollars in July.
The South Korea-based fund was born out of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, when developed countries made a political commitment to mobilize $100 billion annually for developing countries by 2020.
The GCF was set up to channel funding from wealthy to poorer nations, helping them shift their development pathways towards a greener track and shore up defenses against climate peril.
The fund currently has around $55 million in its coffers, while Christiana Figueres, the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has called for an initial capitalization of $10 billion by the end of the year.
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