IMF plans 100 billion fund to help poor mitigate climate impact

The International Monetary Fund is planning a 100 billion dollar fund to help countries mitigate the effects of climate change, the agency’s head said.

“The new growth model will be low carbon,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, told political and business leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this weekend.

Efforts to deal with climate change could not be blocked “just because we cannot meet the financing needs,” he said.

Developing countries do not have the funds for these adaptation measures, and developed countries’ ability to pay is also limited as they are now weighed down by debt after funds were used to deal with the financial crisis.

It was therefore necessary to “think out of the box” on the issue of funding, the IMF chief said.

AFP