UNITED NATIONS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The U.N. environmental chief called on rich nations on Thursday to pledge $10 billion a year for three years at next month's Copenhagen summit to help poor states begin to tackle the impact of climate change. Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, told a news conference that was a short-term figure and that in 10 or 20 years hundreds of billions of dollars would be needed annually to cope with global warming. The Dec. 7-18 meeting in Copenhagen had long been billed as the time when a new treaty to cap greenhouse gas emissions would be signed, but the United Nations has admitted that a legally binding deal will not come until later. The slippage has been partly blamed on delays in the United States in pushing new climate change legislation through Congress, a move now anticipated early next year. De Boer listed the $10-billion-a-year pledge as one of his three goals for the summit, along with the submission of emission targets for 2020 by rich countries and of planned actions by developing countries. He said Copenhagen must clarify how short- and long-term finance was going to be provided to help developing countries mitigate the effects of climate change and adapt to it. "To my mind rich countries must put at least $10 billion on the table in Copenhagen to kick-start immediate action," he said.
via reuters.com
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