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21:14 GMT
NEW YORK, Sept 23 (KUNA) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed generous contributions of USD 2.101 billion from Germany, France, Korea and Mexico towards the initial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund today.
Ban have asked Governments to present bold commitments, consistent with their international obligation and level of development, including financial commitments towards climate change, and large numbers came in reply.
At the multilateral and multi-stakeholder action session, Ban stressed that climate change is a risk to business and financial markets everywhere. He said it threatens to undermine financial resilience, and efforts to alleviate poverty and maintain sustained economic growth.
Furthermore, Ban endorsed the call for putting a price on carbon, and thanked the World Bank as well as the UN Global Compact for taking the lead on this.
While pricing carbon is critical, he said, it will remain insufficient if not complemented by urgent direct action.
Tackling climate change offers enormous opportunities, but "we must put the right national and international policies and frameworks in place," he said.
The key obstacle in combatting climate change has been the level of financing required for accelerating the transformation towards low carbon, resilient development.
Earlier today, France and Germany contributed USD 1 billion each, Korea with USD 100 million and Mexico USD 1 million. (end)
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