The head of the UN’s biggest climate fund has urged world leaders not to step back from channelling “critical” climate finance to the developing world after the United States reneged on $4 billion in pledges to the Green Climate Fund (GCF).Mafalda Duarte, the GCF’s executive director, said on Monday that investing in efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and help vulnerable countries adapt to a warming planet benefits those who provide the money as much as the recipients.“We live in an interconnected world: no country, not even the richest ones, can afford to treat climate change solely as a domestic matter,” she wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Its most severe consequences—including conflict and migration—will ripple across the globe unless action is taken where it matters most: in developing countries.”Duarte’s comments come days after it emerged that US President Donald Trump’s government had officially rescinded its outstanding pledges to the GCF made under previous administrations, as first reported by Politico. No other country has ever cancelled its promised contributions to the UN climate fund before.
“No future”: Climate projects face existential threat after Trump’s aid shutdown
Barack Obama and Joe Biden committed $3 billion each to the GCF in 2014 and 2023 respectively – but only $2 billion of the promised money was delivered. One of the main reasons behind the failure to fulfill the pledge is that contributions to the GCF need to be approved by Congress, which was partly or wholly controlled by Republicans on both occasions.Established in 2010 to channel climate funding to the developing world, the GCF has approved $16 billion worth of projects in 133 countries. Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan have made the biggest contributions to the fund which counts 46 donor countries, including nine developing nations.In her post on Monday, Duarte argued that, while climate change presents risks and foments insecurity, investments in projects to tackle the problem can unlock economic gain and strategic influence.“Countries that lead in climate finance will lead the future economy,” she wrote. “Countries that invest in climate abroad—and in turn, at home—have serious influencing power to shape the global agenda and set a course for multilateral institutions. When nations step back, others step in.”Her focus on the economic opportunity of climate action echoes similar remarks made by UN climate chief Simon Stiell in the wake of Trump starting the process to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord – set to formally enter into force in January 2026.Speaking in Brazil, the host nation for COP30, Stiell said last week that one country may step back but others were “already stepping into their place to seize the opportunity, and to reap the massive rewards” offered by the transition to clean energy.
UN gives countries more time to submit “quality” climate plans for 2035
But, while lucrative
