Copenhagen – An agreement of $10bn a year in fast track financing for the next three years and $100bn a year by 2020 for poor countries to cope with climate change must come over and above existing aid promises, Africa advocacy group ONE said today.  Currently these sums will largely be subtracted from promised resources* to help these same countries fight poverty.

“Climate change is putting additional stress on poor countries – which is why they need additional funds to cope with it – on top of existing and promised aid levels,” said ONE’s Executive Director Jamie Drummond.

“Promises of aid made by the G8 in Gleneagles in 2005 must not be lost in Copenhagen. Without a clear commitment that these climate funds are additional, the dollar amounts are next to meaningless.

“This debate over ‘additionality’ might seem arcane, but within the details lie billions of dollars – and very real impacts on millions of lives,” Drummond said. “Without this additionality, Copenhagen adds up to nothing.

“It is very clear that much more can and must be done, including harnessing the potential of African and other developing countries to be renewable energy hubs and help capture carbon through growing trees.”

ONE supports the African proposal, which was not mentioned in Copenhagen Accord, for an interim target of $50bn by 2015 on top of existing and promised aid to help the poorest countries – many of them in Africa – with pressing adaptation needs.   The Copenhagen Accord mentions a High Level Panel to assess how alternative sources of funding can contribute to raising genuinely additional funds.

ONE says this urgent High Level Task Force should be convened immediately and with links to the highest political level to look into alternative sources of climate finance to complement additional public funding. ONE also highlighted the need for accountability and transparency for these new funds.

Notes to editors

• For more information and interviews please contact Jessica Gomez-Duran on +44 (0)7500 085776 or email [email protected] or Chandler Smith at (202) 441-2474 or email [email protected].
• European Union countries have promised to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas development aid by 2015. President Obama has promised to double American assistance in the same time period.