A group of 26 Republican senators has written to the US Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees the use of international climate finance, asking it to stop future transfers of funds to the UN-led Green Climate Fund.

Developed countries in Copenhagen in 2009 pledged to raise up to $100 billion per year by 2020, which through the GCF will help poor countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

US President Barack Obama has promised $3 billion to the GCF, the body that is administering the funds, and recently paid in the first $500 million.

“We request that no funds be appropriated for the GCF in the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2017 and language be inserted into the appropriation bill to prohibit any funding from being obligated or transferred to the GCF,” the letter read.

The group was led by Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, and signatories included high-profile senatorial names such as Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and James Inhofe.

“We stand firmly opposed to taxpayer dollars going to the GCF. Congress has never authorized or specifically approved funding for the GCF. Giving billions of dollars to an international climate fund is a significant waste of American resources,” it read.

“With the United States’ national debt exceeding $19 trillion and the difficulty finding resources to make critical investments here at home, we should not be sending taxpayer dollars overseas to international bureaucrats in the name of climate change.”

The GCF approved its first projects last November but has existing funding proposals amounting to $1.5 billion, with a total of 22 mitigation and adaptation projects in the pipeline seeking over $5 billion.

By Stian Reklev – stian@carbon-pulse.com

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