Five Lawmakers Call for Establishment of Climate Fund in Cancun

Five House lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today calling for the Obama administration to push for the establishment at climate talks in Cancun at the end of the year of a climate fund to help poor nations adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The letter comes midway through United Nations climate talks in Tianjin, China. The talks will continue in Cancun, Mexico, in December, but negotiators are not expected to agree to a binding climate treaty. Oxfam, which put together the letter, has long called for establishing a climate fund.

The letter was signed by the chairmen of five House Foreign Affairs subcommittees.

According to the letter:

Around the world the impacts of climate change are occurring.  The US can demonstrate global leadership and ensure critical forward movement in the climate negotiations by supporting the establishment of an equitable, effective, and accountable global climate fund that is embraced by the international community.  We commend the administration for its efforts on the Copenhagen accord and strongly urge the establishment of the global climate fund as an essential step in its own right, one that should be taken now even as other parts of the negotiations mature separately.

The following lawmakers signed the letter: Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment; Rep. Brad Sherman, chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade; Rep. Gary Ackerman, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia; Rep. Donald Payne, chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health; and Rep. Eliot Engel, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.