Trump reneges on $4B in Green Climate Fund financing

The United States has officially reneged on $4 billion in pledges it made to the Green Climate Fund, or GCF. The move, first reported by Politico, was confirmed to Devex by GCF. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called climate change a “hoax,” criticized the fund during his first administration, and had promised on the campaign trail to cancel any payments. "We have been made aware that the United States of America has notified the United Nations of its decision to rescind outstanding pledges to the Green Climate Fund (GCF),” a GCF spokesperson said in a statement. GCF is the world’s largest climate fund. Since its inception, it has approved about $16 billion in projects across 133 countries. It aims to grow its portfolio to $50 billion by 2030. “If pledges are not fully realized, our ability to support the climate ambitions of developing countries will be constrained,” the spokesperson said. This is the first time any country has rescinded a pledge to the fund. But, importantly, these funds were pledged and not appropriated by Congress, so it does not seem to have any legal implications, said Clemence Landers, vice president and senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. “The administrations that have made requests for the GCF — those requests have just never been fulfilled by Congress. The few payments that have been made to the GCF have been through the State Department’s Economic Support Fund. The GCF is not popular with Republican lawmakers,” Landers said. “This is obviously not a good thing for the world. The GCF is doing incredibly important work. They're a big part of the Paris Agreement. But reneging on past administrations commitments has become sort of par for the course, as bad as it is.” GCF’s current portfolio includes 286 projects, 85% of which are being implemented. “All approved projects are fully funded from existing resources. This year, we have a strong pipeline and expect to approve up to $3 billion in new projects,” the spokesperson said. In a separate statement about Trump’s decision to freeze climate funding more broadly, the World Resource Institute said, “The U.S. provides over 10% of the world’s climate finance to countries in need. Halting this finance is not only morally wrong but also damages U.S. interests.”