France’s Macron says leaders have finalized accord on $100bn in climate finance

Wealthy nations finalized an overdue climate finance pledge to developing countries worth $100 billion on Friday and created a fund for biodiversity and the protection of forests, France’s president said, according to Reuters.

Emmanuel Macron was speaking at a final panel of a summit in Paris where some 40 leaders, including two dozen from Africa, China’s prime minister and Brazil’s president had gathered to give impetus to a new global finance agenda.

Its objective is to boost crisis financing for low-income states and ease their debt burdens, reform post-war financial systems and free up funds to tackle climate change by getting top-level consensus on how to promote a number of initiatives struggling in bodies like the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and UN.

The $100 billion falls far short of poor nations’ actual needs, but has become symbolic of wealthy countries’ failure to deliver promised climate funds. This has fueled mistrust in climate negotiations between countries attempting to boost CO2-cutting measures.

The World Bank said on Thursday it would ease financing for countries hit by natural disasters and the IMF announced it had hit its target of making $100 billion in special drawing rights available for vulnerable nations.

Of the $100 billion in SDRs to be rechannelled, Washington has yet to pass legislation to release its share, worth more than one fifth of the total.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that it was a priority for the Biden administration to get approval in Congress.