GENEVA, (Reuters) – Almost 50 nations made progress yesterday towards a “Green Fund” to help poor countries fight global warming but hosts Mexico and Switzerland said a full U.N. climate treaty was out of reach for 2010.
Environment ministers and senior officials meeting in Geneva also examined how to raise a promised $100 billion a year in climate aid from 2020 — perhaps from carbon markets, higher plane fares or taxes on shipping — to be managed by the Fund.
“We think we should be able to establish the Green Fund in the conference in Cancun,” Mexico’s Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa said after the informal Sept. 2-3 talks among 46 nations in Geneva.
Mexico will host an annual U.N. climate meeting in Cancun from Nov. 29-Dec. 10. A Green Fund is meant to help poor nations shift from fossil fuels and cope with projected floods, droughts, mudslides and rising seas caused by climate change.
Espinosa said any deal in Cancun would fall short of a treaty, part of a lowering of hopes after the U.N.’s Copenhagen summit in 2009 agreed only a non-binding deal. Cancun might decide to build any deals into a treaty, perhaps in 2011.
