Guyana to benefit from £2.9B UK Climate Fund

The British government has allocated 2.9 billion pounds of Overseas Development Assistance for international climate financing from which Guyana stands to benefit, the High Commission here has announced.

According to a statement released on May 3, the funds, which will cover the period 2011/12 to 2014/15, will be administered through the UK’s recently-established International Climate Fund (ICF).

“We expect to spend 50 per cent of the total on adaptation in poor and vulnerable countries, with around 30 per cent for work to reduce carbon emissions and 20 per cent for forestry,” the British High Commission outlined. There are three overall priorities for ICF funding, which are to be delivered through bilateral and multilateral channels.

In acknowledged that climate change is a problem whose impacts and cost falls disproportionally on developing countries, which is “deeply unfair”, the UK has allocated these funds.

The UK is aiming to maximise the impact of the funds and ensure value for money while demonstrating that building low-carbon, climate-resilient growth at scale is both feasible and desirable. The money will be used to support adaptation in poor countries, build an effective international framework on climate change, and drive innovation, creating new partnerships with the private sector to support low-carbon climate-resilient growth.

According to the High Commission, the Climate Development and Knowledge Network (CDKN) is an important avenue for ICF funding, and will receive some 50 million pounds from the UK and 11.8 million pounds from the Netherlands over the next five years. The CDKN offers advice, technical assistance, research, strategic knowledge-sharing, and partnership building to developing countries to enable them to make long-term policy and investment decisions which are climate resilient and help low- carbon development.

Guyana is said to be one of the priority countries under the CDKN.

The UK’s ICF will also fund the climate element of an advocacy fund to enable the poorest countries to more effectively negotiate on the global stage. This will be established later this year. London’s May 3rd announcement will play an important role in helping to fuel global action on climate change.

Developed countries have committed to jointly raise some US$100 billion of climate finance by 2020, and the UK is hopeful that other players come forward soon.

“We look to other donors, too, to make significant and ambitious financial pledges. We look to the business community to play an important role, since we expect the target to be reached through a mix of public and private finance.

“With every passing year, the global cost of effective action to tackle climate change grows greater. The time to act is now,” the British declared.