Norway increases contribution to Green Climate Fund

‘We plan to increase Norway’s contribution to the Fund from NOK 400 million to NOK 800 million a year from 2020. The Green Climate Fund has delivered good results so far, and is an important channel for contributing to the implementation of the Paris Agreement,’ said Minister of International Development Dag-Inge Ulstein.

‘Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges we are facing. It is threatening our chances of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. Norway aims to be a driving force in international climate change efforts, and the Green Climate Fund is important in helping to reach the Paris Agreement goal of keeping the global average temperature increase to well below two degrees Celsius. It also plays a crucial role in helping the most vulnerable countries become more resilient to climate change,’ Mr Ulstein said.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change will lead to more extreme weather events, keen competition for natural resources, an increase in health problems, weakened economic growth and greater disparities. The most vulnerable groups will be most severely affected.

The Green Climate Fund was established in 2010 by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to serve as a key channel for delivering climate finance to developing countries.

The Fund is expected to deliver much of the financing that is necessary to meet the goal of mobilising USD 100 billion a year for climate actions in developing countries by 2020. So far, the Fund has approved about USD 5 billion in support for 102 projects in 97 countries. 

Norway provided NOK 1.6 billion for the Fund from 2015-2018, of a total of about NOK 88 billion that was pledged for this three-year period. The process of replenishing the Fund for the period 2020-2023 will be initiated at the meeting in Oslo on 4-5 April.

In addition to Norway’s contribution to the Green Climate Fund, the Government supports a number of other climate measures. Priority is being given to measures to limit and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to promote climate change adaptation in developing countries. Focus areas will include emission reductions from deforestation and forest degradation, increased production of and access to renewable energy, the phasing out of fossil-fuel subsidies, measures to promote food and nutritional security, weather and climate services, agricultural research, prevention of natural disasters, and the conservation of biodiversity.