Maithripala likely to attend global warming summit in Paris in Dec.
France will host the 21 Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris this December where 40,000 delegates and visitors from 195 countries are expected to participate. The ultimate goal of the conference is for the international community to reach a legally binding agreement to limit global warming to cover this century compared to pre-industrial levels.
President Maithripala Sirisena would probably attend this summit.
Ambassador of France in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Jean Marin Schuh speaking at the Green Finance Forum organized by the Embassy of France and the French Development Agency in Colombo recently said that there is a strong scientific consensus to show that climate change was caused by human activity. Global climate warming is caused as a result of carbon dioxide gas released into the atmosphere that causes deadly catastrophes in the world. The Paris meeting is expected to sign an agreement to curb global warming.
Vice President of the DFCC Corporate Banking Kapila Subasinghe said that DFCC Bank has had a long association with the World Bank and has also received funds from the European Investment Bank for Tsunami reconstruction projects and have a line of credit to support green energy projects. “We also have an association with the Asian Development Bank for funding development projects in the North and the East.
ustainability is part of our business and we have funded over 70 renewable projects. We have granted loans of approximately Rs.14 billion for projects,” he added. Meanwhile Paris meeting will mobilise US$100 billion per year by developed countries from public and private sources starting from 2020. The commitment made in Copenhagen for the COP15 will provide developing countries with tools to mitigate and adept to climate change by sustainable and resilient development. Some of these funds will pass through the Green Climate Fund which has received initial capital of $10.2 billion including $1 billion from France.
However the aftermath of the 2008’s financial crisis has affected developed countries to provide funds and are still struggling with both high public deficit and debt which limit their ability to source the huge amount of required funds to finance the transition towards a greener economy.
Hence more than ever the private financial institutions have now to deepen existing efforts to channel funds to investment which will ensure a low –carbon and climate resilient development. At present many public and private finance businesses from developing and developed countries have already acquired experience in “greening” finance to fund a sustainable development. This was evident in France and Sri Lanka which can boast of an experience sharing and discussing in the lead up to COP21 conference.
Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. K.S. Popli and the World Bank Carbon Finance Specialist in Colombo Zhuo Cheng; Senior Investment Officer Proparo Yatin Kundra; Principal Investment Officer International Finance Coprporation Kamal Dorabawila and Country Representative of the French Development Agency for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Gregory Villeneuve.