Mexico President Wants Global "Green Fund" To Fight Climate Change

The world needs a "green fund" to help tackle climate change, providing financial rewards to countries for efforts to reduce carbon emissions and other measures to support the environment, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday. Discussions to date had been too focussed on horse trading over specific goals for carbon emissions, he said.
"We are losing a lot of time in that discussion," Calderon said, adding that Mexico is ready to commit to any goals that can create a consensus. "There is no sense we use another five years discussing what would be the right goals."Calderon said financial incentives are the best way to change attitudes.
"That is the reason why Mexico is proposing to create a green fund, a fund against climate change," he said. The fund would be financed through a system of quotas, similar to institutions like the International Monetary Fund, which would dictate how much each country paid into the pot, he said. (Source:DowJones)

The size of a country's contribution could be based on any number of factors, such as income per capita, gross domestic product, total carbon emissions, or emissions per capita, Calderon said.
Countries would then withdraw cash from the fund to help them pay for their environmental programs such as reforestation or drives to improve energy efficiency, he said. Countries that didn't carry out any environmental policies wouldn't get any money back from their quota.
"My perception is that the right instruments are the right economic incentives for the country...money is the best incentive," Calderon said.
He said developed countries should perhaps only be allowed to withdraw less than their quota while developing countries should be able to withdraw more.
"We as a developing nation, Mexico wants to contribute...everyone can contribute according to their capabilities," Calderon said.
The Kyoto agreement sets targets for greenhouse gas emissions cuts in developed countries until 2012. A summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December will attempt to negotiate a successor to the treaty, including emissions targets for developing countries, to take effect from 2013.
-By Nicholas Winning, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9498; nick.winning@dowjones.com
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