Germany leads by example when it comes to financing climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. This was stressed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly High-Level Event on Climate Change yesterday. The event, which is one of the numerous preparatory meetings for the December climate summit in Paris at which a new binding agreement is to be approved, was held at the invitation of the President of the General Assembly, Mr Sam Kutesa.
Ban Ki-moon said he welcomed the recent announcement by Germany to double its climate finance support by 2020 and encouraged other developed countries to follow this example. Climate financing was to build trust and to support the mobilisation of funds needed to build low-carbon, climate-resilient economies.
Germany had announced at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in May that it would double its public climate financing from two billion euros at present to four billion euros by 2020. Many of the countries present in New York welcomed this announcement.
State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth who participated in the meeting on behalf of the German Government stressed: "It is in particular the poorest countries and those hit worst by climate change that have to be confident that they will not be left alone in their fight against climate change. Therefore the countries which historically caused a major part of climate change are called upon to give a clear signal in this direction." He continued: "Before the Paris Conference we have to clarify how the developed countries are going to deliver on their commitment of 2009 to mobilise 100 billion euros per year from public and private sources starting in 2020. In conclusion he stated: "The Paris Conference will only be successful if the results also take into account the needs of the poorest."