Copenhagen Accord pledges US$ 30 billion in climate aid funding

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen highlighted the divide between developed and developing nations in finding a global solution to climate change. The signing of the Copenhagen Accord between the US, China, India, South Africa and Brazil will see US$ 30 billion in aid funding going to developing nations over the next three years towards the costs of fighting climate change.

By 2020, the plan calls for US$ 100 billion to be spent annually in the same fund. The non-binding plan, which aims to have a legally binding treaty by the end of 2010, also seeks to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius and requires richer nations to list their emission targets, while developing countries must list the ways they will reduce their growing carbon emissions. The issue of how developing and emerging economies use carbon mitigation funds provided to it by foreign governments under the Copenhagen Accord and any future agreements, is potentially contentious. The threat of potential sanctions for failing to honour obligations is a concern for export growth in developing countries. Trade and trade barriers continue to be a sticking point for future agreements.