Rich countries may pay $10 bn this year: UN climate chief

Rich countries are likely to live up to their commitment to pay $10 billion this year to combat climate change, the UN's new climate panel chief said here Wednesday.

Christiana Figueres, from Costa Rica who took over as head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) this July, said she expected rich countries to also indicate the 'sourcing of $30 billion' that they committed during the last climate summit in Copenhagen.

'The funding will be available, but the expectation of 100 percent additionality may not be met,' Figueres cautioned, referring to the worry among developing countries that rich countries would move current aid funds to the climate change kitty.

Speaking to a small group of journalists, she also said more money may be available for mitigating the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases that are leading to global warming, rather than for adapting to the effects of climate change.

There is widespread worry that recent events like the floods in Pakistan or the heat wave in Russia may be connected to climate change, and developing countries have been seeking more funds to deal with such effects.

Figueres agreed that the money currently in the adaptation fund of the UNFCCC was 'completely insufficient' but pointed out that it was up to governments to fill the gap.

The UN climate panel chief came here to talk to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on the expectations from the next climate summit in Mexico. After their talk, she said they both felt there would be no 'overarching' global treaty this year to combat climate change, 'but there will be decisions on each aspect' of the problem.

Apart from making a start with the funding, Figueres expected development in transfer of green technology to developing countries 'through the formation of a mechanism and the setting up of regional technical centres'. But she did not expect the thorny issue of intellectual property rights to be resolved this year.

After the failure of the Copenhagen summit, Figueres is busy in trying to restore confidence in the UNFCCC process of negotiating international agreements to combat climate change. She said she would ensure every group of countries was represented in all committees at the next summit.