To the Minister of Climate Change Dr Smith or representative,

I am trying to access the formal contract by which the 194 nations (as per news reports) agreed to give the UN the mandate to establish a $100bn per year by 2020 “Green Climate Fund”.

The details of the fund are found in the UN document:-

“Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention”

http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/cop_16/application/pdf/cop16_lca.pdf

There are no signatories listed in the Advance unedited version Draft decision [-/CP.16]

Please provide, if it exists:-

1) A link to the document other than the above that was signed by the representatives of the 194 nations that agreed to provide the mandate to the UN to pursue “a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources” to establish a “Green Climate Fund”.

2) A list of countries that disagreed or abstained from agreeing to the establishment of a “Green Climate Fund” by the UN..

Or,

Is the agreement by the 194 nations to establish a “Green Climate Fund”. a verbal agreement to the written document above?

Or,

Is there no obligation yet for any country and no mandate for UN implementation of the “Green Climate Fund” until signing of an agreement at COP17 Durban?

Sincerely,

Richard Cumming

Under yesterday’s UN deal, the 194 national delegations in Cancun agreed to establish a “Green Climate Fund” to help developing countries deal with climate change.

Here’s the links:-

Decisions adopted by COP 16 and CMP 6

Specific document

Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention

IV. Finance, technology and capacity-building
A. Finance
Fast-start finance
95. Takes note of the collective commitment by developed countries to provide new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, approaching USD 30 billion for the period 2010–2012, with a balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation; funding for adaptation will be prioritized for the most vulnerable developing countries, such as the least developed countries, small island developing States and Africa;

Long-term finance
97. Decides that, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention, scaled-up, new and additional, predictable and adequate funding shall be provided to developing country Parties, taking into account the urgent and immediate needs of developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change;
98. Recognizes that developed country Parties commit, in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD 100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries;

99. Agrees that, in accordance with paragraph 1(e) of the Bali Action Plan, funds provided to developing country Parties may come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources;
100. Decides that a significant share of new multilateral funding for adaptation should flow through the Green Climate Fund;
101. Takes note of the relevant reports on the financing needs and options for mobilization of resources to address the needs of developing country Parties with regard to climate change adaptation and mitigation, including the report of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing;

Green Climate Fund

[Snip]

103. Also decides that the Fund shall be governed by a board of 24 members comprising an equal number of members from developing and developed country Parties; representation from developing country Parties shall include representatives from relevant United Nations regional groupings and representatives from small island developing States and the least developed countries; each board member shall have an alternate member; alternate members are entitled to participate in the meetings of the board only through the principal member, without the right to vote, unless they are serving as the member; during the absence of the member from all or part of the meeting of the board, his or her alternate shall serve as the member;

104. Further decides that the Green Climate Fund shall have a trustee; the trustee for the Green Climate Fund shall have the administrative competence to manage the financial assets of the Green Climate Fund, maintain appropriate financial records and prepare financial statements and other reports required by the Board of the Green Climate Fund, in accordance with internationally accepted fiduciary standards;

[Snip]

107. Invites the World Bank to serve as the interim trustee of the Green Climate Fund, subject to a review three years after operationalization of the fund;
108. Decides that the operation of the fund shall be supported by an independent secretariat;
109. Decides that the Green Climate Fund shall be designed by a Transitional Committee, in accordance with the terms of reference in annex III to this decision; the Transitional Committee shall have 40 members, with 15 members from developed country Parties and 25 members from developing country Parties, with:
(a) Seven members from Africa;
(b) Seven members from Asia;
(c) Seven members from Group of Latin American and Caribbean States;
(d) Two members from small island developing States;
(e) Two members from least developed countries;
110. Invites the Executive Secretary of the secretariat, in consultation with the President of the Conference of the Parties, to convene the initial meeting of the Transitional Committee, with members having the necessary experience and skills, notably in the area of finance and climate change; the transitional committee meetings will be open to observers;
111. Requests the secretariat, in consultation with President of the Conference of the Parties, to make arrangements enabling relevant United Nations agencies, international financial institutions, and multilateral development banks, along with the secretariat and the Global Environment Facility, to second staff to support the work of the Transitional Committee for the design phase of the Green Climate Fund;

Fine.

Now where’s the 194 signatories to provide the mandate to pursue “a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources”?

[Note - that would include airline levies, financial transaction fees etc]

Or, is this $100bn per year fund a verbal agreement under contract law?

[Get real - a $100bn per year verbal agreement to a written contract]

Or, is there no obligation yet for any country and no mandate for implementation until signing at Durban?

Richard C it certainly says Decisions adopted by COP 16 and CMP 6 and the closing resolution
I wouldn’t expect to see a copy of signed pages

but I suppose you could ask Mr Smith
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Richard C (NZ):
December 13th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

Val 39

I wouldn’t expect to see a copy of signed pages

Remember Copenhagen – nothing happened there either but there was an Obama brokered “noted” document that was signed by the agreeing parties.

I would expect to see lists of signees under the various negotiated positions (not prescribed UN trivia) on the strength of the “noted” reports or even just one document that “noted” the Cancun Agreements with a list of signatories. Remember, there was not unanimous agreement (notably Bolivia et al)

but I suppose you could ask Mr Smith

Yes, good idea. I suspect I will be referred to the “Cancun Agreements” but it’s worth asking.

Meantime, I’m curious as what others think about this so thanks Val.

http://joannenova.com.au/2010/12/cancun-in-a-nutshell-nothing-achieved-but-its-a-big-pr-success/comment-page-1/#comment-149592

Where are the agreed positions signed by each national negotiator that gave rise to all the PR spin?

For Australia http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/inf01p01.pdf

H.E. Mr. Gregory Combet
Minister for Climate Change and
Energy Efficiency

Mr. Rodney Hilton
Deputy Chief of Staff
Office of the Minister for Climate
Change and Energy Efficiency

Ms. Kristin Tilley
Adviser
Office of the Minister for Climate
Change and Energy Efficiency

And many, many more

For New Zealand http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2010/cop16/eng/inf01p02.pdf

H.E. Mr. Nick Smith
Minister for the
Environment/Minister for Climate
Change Issues
Ministry for the Environment

H.E. Mr. Tim Groser
Minister Responsible for
International Climate Change
Negotiations

H.E. Ms. Jo Tyndall
Climate Change Ambassador
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade

And many, many more.

Do such documents exist and where are they?

If none exist – nothing happened at COP16 Cancun.

Is that the Club of Rome, perchance?

Exquisite satire.

Well, I’ll re-post one of my favorite pieces by Stott, the essay
“Mr Lemuel Gulliver Visits Milibandia”

http://web.me.com/sinfonia1/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Clamour_Of_The_Times/Entries/2009/7/15_Mr_Lemuel_Gulliver_Visits_Milibandia.html