You are here: Home» COP 15» Participants' Stances» Developing Countries

LDCs Require 1.5% of Developed Countries' GDP in Fighting Climate Change

Adjust font size:

The Least Developed Countries Group (LDCs) required here on Friday that developed countries should allocate at least 1.5 percent of their GDP to help fight climate change, 70 percent of which should go to the LDCs.

The LDCs said at a press conference that they need to establish a body under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to implement or operate the new fund.

They said that the current financing promises made by developed countries are "not enough." EU leaders agreed on Friday to commit 2.4 billion euros (about US$3.6 billion) a year until 2012 to help poorer countries combat global warming. Prior to that, developed countries proposed to offer US$10 billion a year for the next three years.

The LDCs said they need a legally binding form to guarantee their financing needs, not just a political declaration. They required developed countries to take the legal responsibility to allocate financing for them.

In 2001, the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) was established under the UNFCCC for 48 LDCs to deal with the impacts of climate change.

The Group also required that the outcome of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference should have two legally binding elements. One is it should continue to deliver the emission targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, and the other is that agreements set on the basis of the Convention are important to the LDCs.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2009)

Related News & Photos