UN Green Climate Fund Pledges Reach $9.3 bln

The UN’s Green Climate Fund is seeking contributions to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties over 2024-2027, aiming to exceed the $10 billion - Reuters
The UN’s Green Climate Fund is seeking contributions to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties over 2024-2027, aiming to exceed the $10 billion - Reuters
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UN Green Climate Fund Pledges Reach $9.3 bln

The UN’s Green Climate Fund is seeking contributions to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties over 2024-2027, aiming to exceed the $10 billion - Reuters
The UN’s Green Climate Fund is seeking contributions to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties over 2024-2027, aiming to exceed the $10 billion - Reuters

The United Nations Green Climate Fund reached around $9.3 billion in pledges for its second replenishment round to help vulnerable countries cope with climate change, the fund’s facilitator said on Thursday.

The UN’s Green Climate Fund is seeking contributions to fund projects in climate-vulnerable counties over 2024-2027, aiming to exceed the $10 billion it raised in its last three-year round.

The amount did not include the United States, which is still working on its announcement but its representative said it was not in a position to pledge at a conference in Bonn on Thursday due to ongoing uncertainty in its budget process, according to Reuters.

The amount represents just a fraction of the $200 billion - $250 billion that developing countries will need every year by 2030 to adapt to climate change, according to an estimate given Wednesday in a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change report that showed how the costs of preparing for climate impacts and the damages from extreme weather events continue to mount.

A climate funding conference in Bonn, Germany, on Thursday saw a handful of countries add cash to the Green Climate Fund – the UN’s main funding arm for dispersing climate finance.

Among those donating were Japan, which said it would contribute up to 165 billion yen ($1.11 billion) over 2024-2027, and Norway, which offered around $300 million.

There were no new funding pledges made from the world’s top two polluters, the United States and China.

A US representative said the country was not in a position to pledge due to uncertainty in its domestic budget process, but was “working on” an announcement. China, meanwhile, has yet to agree to join wealthy countries in providing climate finance through the UN system.

Australia, Italy, and Sweden said they also were also working on contributions, but did not make pledges on Thursday. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is aiming to exceed the $10 billion in contributions it raised in its last three-year round.



China to US: 'Market Has Spoken' after Tariffs Spur Selloff

US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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China to US: 'Market Has Spoken' after Tariffs Spur Selloff

US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Chinese flags and a label with the word "34% Tariffs" are seen in this illustration taken, April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

China said on Saturday "the market has spoken" in rejecting US President Donald Trump's tariffs, and called on Washington for "equal-footed consultation" after global markets plunged in reaction to the trade levies that drew Chinese retaliation.

Several Chinese commerce associations in industries from healthcare and textiles to electronics also issued statements on Saturday calling for unity in exploring alternative markets and saying the tariffs would worsen inflation in the United States.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan told public broadcaster RTHK, however, Hong Kong would not impose separate countermeasures, citing the need for the city to remain "free and open".

"The market has spoken," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a post on Facebook on Saturday. He also posted a picture capturing Friday's falls on US markets, Reuters reported.

Trump introduced additional 34% tariffs on Chinese goods as part of steep levies imposed on most US trade partners, bringing the total duties on China this year to 54%.

Trump also closed a trade loophole that had allowed low-value packages from China to enter the US duty-free.

This prompted retaliation from China on Friday, including extra levies of 34% on all US goods and export curbs on some rare earths, escalating the trade war between the world's two largest economies.

Global stock markets plummeted following China's retaliation and Trump's comments on Friday that he would not change course, extending sharp losses that followed Trump's initial tariff announcement earlier in the week and marking the biggest losses since the pandemic. For the week, the S&P 500 was down 9%.

"Now is the time for the US to stop doing the wrong things and resolve the differences with trading partners through equal-footed consultation," Guo wrote in English.

China's chamber of commerce, representing traders in food products, called on "China's food and agricultural products import and export industry to unite and strengthen cooperation to jointly explore domestic and foreign markets".

Hong Kong's Chan said it strongly opposes Trump's actions and would persist in being "free and open".

"Allowing a free flow of capital and acting as a free port are our advantages, and this will not change," Chan told public broadcaster RTHK.

"The rules-based multilateral trading system is our core," he said.