by Julian Velez
The ALBA group (Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas) sees that Transitional Committee (TC) has expressed very serious concerns regarding the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The TC was uncharged of drafting all the details of how the GCF is going to function and the TC report was brought up for either adopting or rejecting it. The ALBA group doesn´t want to reject the report but they see that it has many parts that needs amendments. The TC and the GCF are one of the achievements of the Cancun Agreements. The GCF is a fund that is supposed to finance projects on adapting to climate change and mitigating Co2 emissions in developing countries.
They have various concerns on this subject. The fund as it is right now will provide funding based on the results of the projects, so that developing countries would have to finance the projects without having certainty on a refund. This system is kind of backwards because the whole purpose of the fund is to help developing countries that don’t have the resources to pay for the projects… they are putting the horse before the cart.
One of the proposals for the way the fund may be structured would be like that of a private entity: without assembly, in the form of a board. It would also transfer funds to private entities directly without passing through governments or public institutions. ALBA is in favor of a board, with balanced representation from developed and developing nations, so that decisions are not taken solely by the providers of the money.
Another point that ALBA is concerned about is the fact that the World Bank is the current trustee of the fund, and if this is accepted the World Bank would have too much influence in where the funding goes.
ALBA would rather have nothing than a fund with many flaws. They want to leave Durban with a well structured fund.
They are also very strong about engaging with civil society to exchange perspectives both to enrich their positions and inform civil society about what is going on in the negotiations.
The dialog provided by ALBA was very valuable because it gave a perspective from the only unified Latin American block. They were very open and direct with civil society and willing to talk and answer questions. This forum is very valuable because it is very hard to find this kind of openness that includes civil society.