US Pledges $3B in Climate Aid for Developing Nations Kathleen Hennessey and Neela Banerjee - The Los Angeles Times
go to original November 15, 2014

President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping speak to reporters at a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 12. (How HweeE Young/European Pressphoto Agency)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will pledge $3 billion to an international climate fund aimed at helping developing countries prepare for and slow the effects of climate change, a White House official said Friday.

The U.S. pledged the money to the United Nations Green Climate Fund, an integral part of the international effort to craft an agreement to address climate change. The fund, created in 2011, asks industrialized countries and their private sectors that pumped most of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over the last century to now provide aid to developing countries so they can shift to low-carbon fuel and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Research has shown that the poorest countries that emitted the least greenhouse gases, such as those in Africa, stand to suffer the most damage from global warming.

"It is in our national interest to help vulnerable countries to build resilience to climate change," the official said in a statement. "More resilient communities are less likely to descend into instability or conflict in the aftermath of extreme climate events, needing more costly interventions to restore stability and rebuild."

The White House announced the U.S. pledge as the president traveled in Asia. It comes on the heels of a new climate change agreement between the U.S. and China, considered a milestone in the push for international cooperation to reduce carbon emissions.

Obama was due to arrive in Brisbane, Australia, later Friday for an economic summit of the Group of 20 nations.

Advocates quickly welcomed the commitment.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

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