Developed countries should honor their climate pledges

Six years after Copenhagen these promises have not been met. Some argue that the developed economies are in difficulties. But when they made their promises, they were being battered by the global financial crisis. Since then, and the developed economies have already gradually pulled themselves out of recession. Is $100 billion an impossible amount for the developed economies to provide? No.

Former World Bank chief economist Nicolas Stern in his famous climate report urged in 2008 that the rich countries to provide $130 billion a year in their budget funding alone to help poorer countries fight climate change.

This figure was reduced to $100 billion by United Kingdom's then prime minister Gordon Brown. Then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton first raised the proposal of $100 billion in both public and private funding at Copenhagen.

So, it is evident that such sum is feasible.

Yet, halfway through the 2010 to 2020 period, and the accounts of developing countries have received almost no money. The Green Climate Fund, which was set up by the 194 governments party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said it has received pledges equivalent to approximately $10 billion in 2014.

At the negotiation table, the rich countries have put pressure on China and other developing countries, saying if they commit funding, they will scale up.

But this is unreasonable. The basic fact is that the carbon emitted in the air which is still causing global warming is still mainly from rich countries due to their historic accumulations since industrial revolution.

So transferring a small amount of their economic output to poorer countries to help develop clean solutions is their due responsibility in helping to clean up our common home.

However, what remains in the heart is that the global governance will only be efficient and trustful if all the members of the international community keep their words. If this decade is lost, the time 2020 onward is also in question.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn