The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) group of developing countries has called for greater public and private financing of projects that address climate change, saying the economic losses incurred by V20 countries due to climate change can exceed $400 billion by 2030.
The finance ministers of the V20 countries launched in Lima, Peru, on Friday their campaign to make the international response to climate change “a foremost humanitarian priority” that requires increased funding for projects to address climate change at the international, regional and domestic level.
One measure being pushed by the V20 is the establishment of an international financial transaction tax that will help mobilize resources for the fight against climate change.
The V20 also called for improved access to international climate-change finance to fund their
efforts to adapt and mitigate to climate change related issues.
The group also pushed for the fulfilment of the $100-billion commitment from developed countries to the Green Climate Fund, a fund established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which was envisioned to reach $100 billion by 2020.
“In the absence of an effective global response, annual economic losses due to climate change are projected to exceed $400 billion by 2030 for the V20, with impacts far surpassing our local or regional capabilities,” said Philippine Finance Minister Cesar V. Purisima, chairman of the V20’s inaugural meeting in Peru.
“Here in Lima, we unite for what we believe is the fundamental human-rights issue threatening our very own existence today. Global climate action gives us hope that we can still see a future free from the most devastating effects of climate change,” he said.
The V20 group is looking toward the more developed countries in the world to contribute their appropriate share in the international efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of Finance Jose Francisco Pacheco said the “historic” launching of the V20 signals the cooperation among developing countries to “work together to ensure we are not made victims, but do everything we can to contribute to a resolution to this crisis.”
Dr. Atiur Rahman, governor of the Bangladesh Bank, added: “We want the world to know that we will not overlook the perils that our economies have been placed at due to the shortcomings, particularly of action by major economies.
The world also needs to know that working together our vulnerable countries are doing everything in our power to bring the climate crisis under control, and we won’t relent until we’ve succeeded in our ambition.”
Aside from calling for more financial support from developed countries to fund climate change-related projects, the V20 also agreed to establish a V20 Climate Risk Pooling mechanism that will distribute among themselves the financial risks posed by climate change.
The mechanism will enable the V20 members to recover from climate change-induced disasters by providing insurance money that will fund post-disaster rehabilitation projects.
United Nations Development Programme Administrator Helen Clark expressed her support for the V20’s vision to pool resources so that the effects of climate change can be mitigated.
“Financial constraints put up serious barriers for climate action and expose millions to disaster and hardship.
“We believe the V20’s vision to deploy innovation in finance, based on shared experiences, has great potential to knock down such barriers” Clark said.
The countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam are part of the V20 and the associated Climate Vulnerable Forum that mandated the group’s formation.