In December 2009, President Obama and leaders from around the world came together in Copenhagen at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to chart a new course in the global effort to tackle climate change. The resulting Copenhagen Accord reflected – for the first time in an international outcome – measurable, reportable and verifiable mitigation targets and actions by all major economies, and set out new institutions and approaches for adaptation, technology and finance.
The finance outcomes in Copenhagen included a collective commitment by developed countries to provide resources to developing countries approaching $30 billion in the period 2010-2012. The elements that leaders endorsed in the Copenhagen Accord, including this “fast start” finance commitment, were carried forward in decisions of the 16th Conference of the Parties in Cancun in December 2010.
Since Copenhagen, the United States has substantially increased its investments in international climate finance. U.S. fast start financing in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 totaled $3.1 billion, consisting of $1.8 billion of Congressionally appropriated assistance and $1.3 billion from development finance and export credit agencies. To date, the U.S. contribution to fast start financing from these sources totals $5.1 billion, including a contribution of $2.0 billion from FY 2010. Ultimately, the total U.S. contribution to fast start financing will also include funding from FY 2012.
