Future of GCF
While the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which was launched in Korea in December last year, is suffering from a shortage of funds, developed countries including the U.S. and Japan express intentions to donate.
On Oct. 23 (local time), President Park Geun-hye said that she will support the GCF at the U.N. Climate Summit with about US$100 million.
President Park added, “We will show our cases of success and new project models to international society and will try hard to expand those to developing countries in cooperation with international organizations including GCF and the Global Green Growth Institute.”
Also, President Park said, “Our country already promised to donate US$50 million to the GCF, and will continuously extend donations up to US$100 million in the future.”
The GCF was propagandized extensively as the “nation’s first international finance organization” after its attraction to Korea was fixed during the previous administration in October 2012. The Korean government said the operating funds would exceed US$100 billion with over 50 staff members, and various kinds of climate change programs would be carried out in developing countries by securing funds from developed countries. The secretariat office of the GCF was established in Songdo, Incheon in December last year.
However, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF), there is no fund performance, even though it has been more than one year after its launch. Yoo Byeong-hee, director of the Green Climate Planning Department at the MOSF, said, “10 countries promised to donate US$3 billion for the fund, but there has been no donation from them yet.”
He added, “The GCF is not an organization established by Korea, and we can't exert influence on the GCF even if we donate more than 50 percent of the fund.” he also said, “The size of the fund is fixed at US$100 billion around 2020, but there is no specific action plan.”
In the meantime, President Barak Obama is planning to donate US$3 billion to the GCF, according to the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 14 (local time).
The GCF's future is expected to get a green light after Obama agreed to reduce greenhouse gases with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the summit on Nov. 12 and Japan expressed its active participation in the future.