Macron seeks climate financing after US withdrawal from Paris accord

[PARIS] French President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday urge wealthy countries and global companies to increase climate financing to accelerate efforts to combat global warming and help poorer nations deal with the impact of climate change.

Mr Macron is hosting the "One Planet" summit on the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate accord, which saw nearly 200 governments agree to end their heavy reliance on fossil fuels and limit further global warming.

Mr Macron will want to show that progress towards those hard-fought goals is being made, even after President Donald Trump said in June that he was withdrawing the United States from the pact.

Developing nations say that the rich are not on track with a broader commitment in the Paris accord for rich economies to provide US$100 billion a year by 2020 - from public and private sources alike - to help developing countries switch from fossil fuels to greener energy sources and adapt to the effects of climate change.

"What's missing are concrete projects with real financing," Mr Macron said late last month.

However, no internationally binding commitments will be announced.

Some 50 world leaders are due to attend the Paris meeting, including Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and leaders of states on the sharp end of climate change such as Chad, Madagascar and Peru.

The United States will send only an official delegation from the Paris Embassy, but superstars Leonardo Di Caprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Governor Jerry Brown, leader of the world's sixth largest economy, are due to champion a more concerted effort to tackle global warming.

There will be a focus on how public and private financial institutions can mobilise more money and how investors can pressure corporate giants to shift towards more ecologically friendly strategies.

"The missing piece of the jigsaw is the funding to help the world's poorer countries access clean energy so they don't follow the fossil-fuel-powered path of the rich world," said Mohamed Adow, charity Christian Aid's lead on climate change.

"Without adequate finance, there is no way developing countries can deal with climate change or decarbonise fast enough to deliver the Paris goals."

REUTERS