Obama to declare $3-bn US grant to climate change fund

President Obama will announce the US will give $3 billion to a new international climate change fund for the poorest countries, an administration official said. Obama is expected to announce this at the Group of 20 summit meeting this weekend in Brisbane, Australia.

The two announcements, both unveiled at prominent global meetings with fellow world leaders, highlight Obama's intent to use the last two years of his administration to push forward on climate change policy, which he sees as a cornerstone of his legacy.

Obama aims to be the lead broker of an international climate change accord, to be signed in Paris next year, that would commit all the world's major economies to significantly cutting their emissions of planet-warming carbon pollution from burning coal and oil.

"We're doing this because it is in our national interest to build resilience in developing countries to climate change," said a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"It is a vital part of establishing momentum" behind the global climate talks in Paris next year, a second American official said.

But Obama's pledge to spend American tax dollars on foreign aid related to climate change is certain to further provoke criticism from Republicans, who have already denounced his domestic climate change policies as job-killing regulations.

On Wednesday, after Obama announced in China that the US would cut its emissions 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025, Speaker John A Boehner said, "This announcement is yet another sign that the president intends to double down on his job-crushing policies no matter how devastating the impact for America's heartland and the country as a whole."

It is not clear whether Obama's $3 billion pledge will come from existing sources of funding, or whether he will have to ask Congress to appropriate the money. Since 2010, the Obama administration has spent about $2.5 billion to help poor countries adapt to climate change and develop new clean sources of energy, but Republicans are certain to target additional requests for money linked to climate change and foreign aid.

Obama's funding pledge comes ahead of a November 20 climate meeting in Berlin, at which countries have been asked to make formal commitments to the Green Climate Fund, a financial institution created last year by the United Nations with headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. In December, global climate negotiators will gather in Lima, Peru, to begin drafting the 2015 Paris accord.

The American contribution is meant to spur other countries to make similar pledges. Christiana Figueres, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has called for governments to create an initial fund of about $10 billion.

So far, at least 10 countries, including France, Germany and South Korea, have pledged a total of around $3 billion for the fund. On Thursday, the Kyodo News Agency reported that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan will announce a contribution of about $1.5 billion at the G-20. The American contribution, representing about a third of the initial fund, is expected to be the largest.

©2014 The New York Times News Service