Dirty Energy – Out of the Green Climate Fund

By: 
International Rivers, Institute for Policy Studies, and AIDA
Date: 
Wednesday, May 14, 2014

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was formally established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2011, although the groundwork was laid in the Copenhagen Accord of 2009. It aims “to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.”

But the Green Climate Fund is under threat. There’s nothing (yet) in the Fund’s rules to stop it from financing false solutions like “clean” coal, natural gas fracking, destructive dams, or even nuclear power in the name of “low-emissions” energy. In fact, some members of the Fund’s board want it to pay for unproven technologies like carbon capture and sequestration, and “fuel switching” – a code for carrying on using fossil fuels that are just a little less dirty.

This fact sheet, written jointly with the Institute for Policy Studies, describes what the Green Climate Fund is, how it may operate, and why there is a risk that it may fund dirty energy.