S. Korea doubles contribution to Green Climate Fund to $200m

South Korea and other donor states have collectively pledged to add $9.6 billion to the Green Climate Fund over the next four years. Asia’s fourth-largest economy will be the ninth-largest contributor, providing $200 million, which is double the amount it provided for the 2015-2018 period.

The fund held its first high-level replenishment conference in Paris last week, seeking donations to finance its activities for the 2020-2023 period, Seoul’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said Monday.

Representing Korea at the event was Huh Chang, director of the ministry’s development finance bureau.

During the conference, 27 states announced how much they intended to contribute, with some confirming earlier pledges and others making new ones. Britain topped the list of contributors with a $1.85 billion pledge, followed by France and Germany.

Korean President Moon Jae-in, during this year’s Climate Action Summit held in New York in September, had vowed to double the country’s contribution to the climate fund to $200 million.

The Green Climate Fund, a financial operating entity under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was launched in 2010 and opened its headquarters in Incheon’s Songdo in 2013. The fund seeks to raise funds from advanced economies and allocate them to developing nations so that they can respond more effectively to climate change.

“(The fundraising) was highly successful as the GCF secured an amount almost as much as its initial fund,” the ministry said in a release.

The fund had initially raised $10.3 billion, but because it approved projects worth $5.2 billion and some donor states did not follow through on their pledges, its current balance stands at $1.4 billion.

With the latest replenishment, the fund will expand its activities and its organization here, which will also boost synergy for Korea as the host state, the ministry added.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)