Statement by CEO Monique Barbut

Turning Up the Heat: A Call for More Concerted Global Action on Climate Change

Washington, DC, 13 April, 2007 - One of the hottest items on the world’s virtual newsstands since April 6 has been the newest report launched by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report estimates with greater than 90% confidence that climate change over recent years is human-induced. This and other such reports are heating up the public discourse on climate change impacts around the world. Are we, as a global society, finally waking up to these urgent threats for dire changes to the planet? And what should we do about it?

In the world’s greatest GHG emitter nations, the momentum on announced actions grows daily. In the run-up to the upcoming June 6-8 Heiligendam G8 meeting, G8 President Chancellor Merkel says she hopes for “a step in the right direction against climate change” during the Summit. In Potsdam in March, Environment Ministers in the G8 countries and Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa affirmed their commitment to further action. In recent weeks, the European Union announced a commitment to binding GHG targets; the UK announced an even more stringent set of binding targets; in Canada, British Columbia announced far-reaching commitments that could make North America’s west coast one continuous green block; and the US Congress has been holding hearings with the goal of drafting legislation which could make the US a new part of the global solution.

I have watched this momentum of concern about climate change simmer for more than a decade. It now reaches closer to a slow boil as we increasingly stare into the face of changing physical and biological systems, coastal zone erosion, changes in agriculture, melting glaciers, and disappearing polar ice caps. The debate which once raged about whether or not the alarm was real has clearly shifted. The new IPCC report and other such scientifically sound documentation simply begin to put the stamp of science on the painful reality many people are already facing.

At the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the world’s largest source of financing for developing countries to address global environment issues, we have an intimate view of the work countries are doing to respond to climate change. Responses fall into two categories: mitigation and adaptation.

Mitigation activities reduce GHG emissions which cause climate change by increasing fossil fuel and electricity efficiency, increasing the use of renewable energy, or better rationalizing transport systems. But mitigation does not account for impacts already being felt or likely to be felt in the future, and adaptation necessarily has become the second, and ever-growing, thrust in climate change response.

Adaptation activities are designed to help populations, especially vulnerable populations, deal with the adverse impacts of climate change, such as increased frequency of droughts and flooding, sea-level rise, and increased agricultural uncertainty. At the GEF, we have a birds’-eye view of the problems developing nations, particularly the poorest, face from climate change – ironically, in fact, as they are the least likely to contribute to climate change.

At the GEF, we manage funds from several sources focused on adaptation projects. From the current $3.13 billion GEF Trust Fund, we have set aside a small amount of money ($50m) to experiment and make project results more climate-resilient, trying to find out how we can alter the course of the projects we support to ensure robust outcomes in the face of climate change. We have also mobilized another $120 million under the Least Developed Countries Fund to pay for the urgent adaptation needs of the world’s 48 least developed countries. And we have mobilized another $65 million under the Special Climate Change Fund to help countries “climate proof” their development programs. Altogether, we have mobilized nearly $200m to support adaptation projects in developing countries. But we are still in the early days, and have a great deal to learn about adaptation solutions.

This sum is very small when compared to the nature of the challenge, but so far, there is no other direct source of financing and support to help countries undertake this urgent work.

Facing and solving the world’s climate change problem is a huge challenge. No single financing source can meet all of the needs—all funding, public and private, is welcome and necessary, but it also must be used intelligently, avoiding duplication and making best use of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each funding avenue. The necessary political will must be cemented and secured by adequate funding from both the public and private sectors, for both mitigation and adaptation but particularly with a new infusion of support for adaptation, for which there is a serious gap.

As the GEF CEO, I consider it my mandate to help ensure that in the climate change arena the available funding, both for mitigation and adaptation, is robust, intelligently spent, and growing in the right directions. I pledge to use the tax-payer money invested in the GEF to further this effort.

I believe the time is ripe for the global community to take ownership of solutions to climate change effects, wherever it is needed and at whatever cost.

As the IPCC report shows, a robust global response on both climate change fronts is a pricey proposition; but the price of a weak response is ultimately immensely more dear.

About the GEF

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is an international financial mechanism with 177 member countries that addresses global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. GEF grants support projects in developing countries related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants. Since its inception in 1991, GEF has achieved a strong track record of support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $6.2 billion in grants and leveraging $20 billion in co-financing for over 1,800 projects in over 150 countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), GEF has also made more than 7,000 small grants, up to $50,000 each, directly to nongovernmental organizations and community organizations.

Media contact:

GEF: Clare Fleming, +1.202.458.4679, cfleming@TheGEF.org