Soros: Finance Gap Could 'Wreck' Climate Talks

CHARLES J. HANLEY,
AP Special Correspondent

COPENHAGEN—The $10 billion a year proposed by rich nations to help the poor adapt to climate change is "not sufficient" and the gap between what's offered and what's needed could wreck the Copenhagen climate conference, American billionaire George Soros said Thursday.

At a European Union summit in Brussels, meanwhile, the western, wealthier nations were having to press poorer, reluctant neighbors in Eastern Europe to contribute even to the $10 billion fund.

"Europe should take its fair share" of the $5 billion to $7 billion a year target sum for 2010-2012, said Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfelt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The EU is expected to announce later Thursday the amount of money it will offer to impoverished, developing nations. Britain has said it will contribute $1.3 billion over three years, and Sweden will give euro800 million ($1.2 billion).

The investor-philanthropist Soros, one in a line of international notables visiting the 192-nation meeting, told reporters he had developed a partial solution to the funding problem. Soros suggested shifting some International Monetary Fund resources from providing liquidity to stressed global financial systems to a new mission of financing projects in developing countries for clean energy and adapting to climate change.

About $100 billion in a one-time infusion could be generated, said Soros, a major supporter of causes in the developing world.

But he acknowledged a major roadblock in Washington.

"It is possible to substantially increase the amount available to fight global warming in the developing world," Soros said. "All that is lacking is the political will. Unfortunately the political will will be difficult to gather because of the mere fact that it requires congressional approval in the United States."

Soros said he had "informal discussions" with Obama administration officials and they recognized the difficulty of getting congressional approval. But he said the issue was too important to sweep aside.

"I think it is already becoming apparent in the negotiations that there's a gap between the developed and developing world on this issue which could actually wreck the conference," he added.

The international financier dropped in on the two-week conference on its fourth day, as rich and poor nations pressed on behind closed doors and in open forums to bridge wide differences and reach agreements on how to combat global warming.

They have just a week to deliver something for President Barack Obama and more than 100 national leaders to sign on Dec. 18, the final day of the climate summit.

"People are really getting down to work. I sense that there is a real seriousness now to negotiate," Yvo de Boer, U.N. climate chief, said Thursday. "Good progress is being made in a number of areas."

He said a growing number of environment ministers will be arriving at Copenhagen this weekend, earlier than planned, to take up higher-level negotiations prior to the arrival of presidents and prime ministers next Wednesday and Thursday.

In one key area, delegates are trying to agree on how much industrialized nations should reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases after the 2012 expiration of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which covered 37 richer nations. The U.S. had rejected Kyoto. An agreement is also expected to include targets by such poorer but emerging economic powers as China and India for scaling back emissions growth.

The second key area involves climate change financing, money for poorer nations to build coastal protection, modify or shift crops threatened by drought, build water supplies and irrigation systems, preserve forests, improve health care to deal with diseases spread by warming, and move from fossil-fuel to low-carbon energy systems, such as solar and wind power.

The World Bank and others project that hundreds of billions of dollars a year, in public and private money, will be needed eventually for the climate change shift.

Yet industrialized countries thus far are talking only about a quick package—three years of funding at $10 billion a year. Much of that would go toward training, planning and getting a fix on needs.