Letters are flying around Congress regarding the Green Climate Fund lately, and it’s clear there is no shortage of opinions about the international anti-climate change financing program. The latest correspondence to come to light comes from a bipartisan group of senators: Democrats Tom Udall (N.M.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.), and Republicans Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Susan Collins (Maine). “A wide range of developed and developing countries have already made pledges and contributions to the Green Climate Fund and projects funded by the Green Climate Fund have successfully leveraged significant private capital,” the senators wrote.
The letters have come fast and furious as congressional appropriators ponder the Obama administration’s $750 million request for the fund in fiscal 2017. The administration has committed the U.S. to providing a total of $3 billion to the international fund aimed at helping developing countries deal with climate change.
Last Friday, a group of 22 Republican senators penned a letter to Senate appropriators, urging them to reject the administration’s request. Meanwhile, House Democrats issued a letter Tuesday urging their appropriators to do just the opposite.
