The systems the rich world uses to deliver climate finance to low-income countries are “obsolete,” grinding down progress on averting a devastating climate crisis, warned the outgoing head of the United Nations’ multi-billion-dollar climate fund for low-income nations.
In an exclusive exit interview as he prepares to leave his post in April, the Green Climate Fund Executive Director Yannick Glemarec urged wealthy donors to fix their distribution channels so they are more “flexible” and suited to the needs of the poor. But these governments must also fulfill their broken promises, he added, especially the $100 billion in annual climate funding to low-income countries that they first pledged more than a decade ago and failed to deliver.
This year’s U.N. climate conference, or COP 28, set for November, is increasingly seen as a make-or-break opportunity to slow global warming. But low-income nations’ suspicion and wariness of their richer counterparts could significantly obstruct a deal on cutting emissions.
“It has a dramatic impact on trust. It’s seen as a breach of contract,” Glemarec said, as he ends his four-year term. “Reaching the $100 billion is a precondition for ensuring trust.”
His organization was set up in 2010 as the U.N.’s main effort to invest in low-emission and climate-resilient development, giving donors an option to direct finance through the world’s primary multilateral organization.
However, the GCF has struggled to get donors to cough up the funds they pledge and then move the money to low-income parts of the world. Out of more than $11 billion in projects the fund has approved, only about $3 billion has been disbursed to low-income countries.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month slammed the GCF as an “empty shell,” blaming donors for holding up funding and setting up financing terms that do not work for low-income nations.
Glemarec argued that the fund has accelerated and simplified the process since he took the helm in 2019. “We dramatically cut down the time it takes to move resources through our pipelines,” Glemarec said from his office in Incheon City, South Korea, where the fund is based.