Nations Donate Billions To New Climate Investment Funds

The world’s industrial nations recently pledged more than $6.1 billion to the
Climate Investment Funds, to aid
developing nations in the fight against climate change.

The funds, approved this summer by the World Bank, aim to provide interim funding to
help developing nations ease increases in global warming pollution, develop
green technologies, and adapt to the catastrophic impacts of global warming.

“Today, we are uniting to
fight global climate change,” said World Bank Group President Robert B.
Zoellick.  “These funds are a concrete
step forward toward reconciling the challenge of global climate change with the
challenge of development and overcoming poverty.”

Representatives of 10
developed nations—Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. —attended
the donor conference hosted at the World Bank in Washington.

The
U.S. pledged $2 billion over
three years, Britain
announced a commitment of $1.5 billion, and Japan pledged up
to $1.2 billion.