Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged to give $10.6 billion more to developing nations in 2020 to help them implement policies against global warming, ahead of the UN climate talks in
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday pledged to give $10.6 billion more to developing nations in 2020 to help them implement policies against global warming, ahead of the UN climate talks in Paris next week.
The decision to offer $10.6 billion came after Japan gave a roughly combined $16 billion for the same purpose in 2013 and 2014. Japanese officials said the money will go toward a 2009 pledge among developed countries to commit $100 billion by 2020 to address the needs of developing nations.
“We attach great importance to the notion that all nations will participate in agreeing to a new international framework,” Mr Abe said in a meeting on global warming with members of his cabinet.
Mr Abe would announce details of the pledge at the UN climate conference to be held in Paris, which is set to be the biggest-ever gathering of world leaders on climate change.
Meanwhile, rating agency Standard and Poor’s said on Thursday that climate change will put current credit ratings on sovereign debt at risk, especially in southeast Asia and the Carribean, as the likelihood of natural disasters rises al-ong with temperatures.
“Our simulations indicate that climate change-related natural hazards can harm sovereign ratings,” Standard and Poor’s analyst Marko Mrsnik said.
Credit risk from natural catastrophes was set to rise by 20 per cent on average, Standard and Poor’s said.
