Green climate funds mapped

The 15th UN climate conference met in Copenhagen in 2009 and started to get serious about helping the developing world deal with climate change. The agreement made at the conference stated that developing countries would spend US$100bn a year by 2020 tackling climate change around the world. This finance was designed to be distributed as loans and grants by multilateral climate funds which target specific projects.

India has received the most funding so far, which makes sense considering that it will soon be the most populous country on earth and is developing at a rapid pace. It has been argued that whether India can be developed in a climate friendly way is the single most important factor in determining whether we can collectively save our environment. To that end, it is encouraging to see green climate funds in India for projects like a renewable energy transmission investment programme, a solar rooftop investment programme and projects promoting green growth.

Likewise, countries such as Ukraine, Chile, Indonesia, Turkey and Vietnam have all received hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to develop district heating systems and sustainable urban water developments which are designed to both improve quality of life and assuage the stress we put on the environment at the same time.

The principle that developed countries should help less developed countries to adapt is a worthy one, and certainly something that should continue to be supported. It is equally important that developed countries provide incentives for still-developing countries to stay away from building new coal plants and such like. It is vital to provide a sustainable pathway, and the green climate funds go a long way to helping with this.

To see where the money goes and what it is used for, have a look at this interactive map from Carbon Brief - https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-where-multilateral-climate-funds-spend-their-money