Climate finance finally gets spent
What do an ice cream shop in Indonesia, a hotel expansion in Haiti and a coal mine in Bangladesh have in common? Answer: they were all funded using cash declared as “climate finance”. An investigation by Reuters finds that at least 2 per cent of the $100 billion per year pledged by rich countries to help developing ones reduce their emissions has gone to questionable projects. But donor nations didn’t break any rules because there are none: the UN says it’s up to countries themselves to impose uniform standards. Japan, for example, has spent $9 billion on projects that will extend reliance on fossil fuels. Officials defended its funding for a coal mine in Bangladesh and an airport in Egypt by arguing they included cleaner tech or sustainable features. Rich countries are, in effect, passing off aid earmarked for development as green. What the climate needs is clarity.
Photograph Munir Uz Zaman / AFP via Getty Images