UN Summit: Adaptation Fund receives $58m pledges as Spain donates EUR2m
On the final day of the Climate Action Summit in New York City this week, Spain announced a new pledge to the Adaptation Fund of EUR 2 million.
Combined with previously announced pledges during the Summit, the total of new contributions for the Fund amount to about US$ 58.2 million.
The Acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced the contribution from Spain at the summit. The contribution, which amounts to about US$ 2.2 million, will go to support the Fund’s concrete adaptation actions on the ground to the most vulnerable communities to climate change in developing countries.
It marked the second time Spain has contributed to the Fund, having previously contributed US$ 57 million in 2010.
The contribution marked the third received by the Fund during the Climate Action Summit for a total of more than US$ 58 million, following pledges of approximately US$ 2.26 million from the Government of Québec and US$ 53.78 million from Sweden.
“We are very grateful to Spain for their generous new pledge, and to all of the contributors to the Adaptation Fund for stepping up at the Summit,” said Ms. Sylviane Bilgischer, Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board. “The contribution from Spain also marks the 15th different funding source to the Fund dating back to last December, and represents the importance of having a wide range of contributors as we face urgent and tremendous adaptation needs across the globe.”
The Fund also received a pledge from inspirational global youth climate activist Greta Thunberg in April when she donated a portion of her prize money to the Fund from the Liberty Prize.
Adaptation Fund Manager Mr. Mikko Ollikainen also participated in speaking engagements during the New York Summit that were centered on inclusive cities, accelerating resilience-building through scaling nature-based solutions, and mobilizing finance at scale for city climate action.
The Fund has been in continuous high demand for project funding, receiving a record 40 proposals and US$ 268 million in submissions in March 2019 which broke the previous records set in just October 2018. The Fund’s Board has already approved more than US$ 125 million in new projects this year, as it heads to meet again to review new project proposals in Bonn, Germany next month.
It raised a single year record US $129 million in contributions last year, but with a project pipeline of about US$ 270 million the Fund hopes to have another strong year in resource mobilization heading to COP25 in Santiago, Chile in December in order to meet the continuous high demand for adaptation it has been facing across the globe over the last several years.
