NEW YORK - As world leaders prepared to announce their actions on climate yesterday, thousands of people flooded the streets of New York City calling for wealthy nations to put money into the Green Climate Fund and demanding that none of it goes to finance dirty energy. Heads of state are gathering at the United Nations tomorrow at the invitation of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in an attempt to jump-start negotiations for a new global climate deal.

According to Janet Redman, climate policy director at the Institute for Policy Studies, “Reaching an agreement to stabilize the climate rests on developed countries making good on their promises. Contributions to the Green Climate Fund are past due. We need to see serious commitments now from rich governments to deliver financing for low-carbon, climate-friendly development.”

Andrea Rodriguez, Mexico-based legal advisor for the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), added, “Billions of people still lack access to energy. The Green Climate Fund should support communities to meet that need through truly clean, decentralized, sustainable renewable energy. Despite corporate interest in promoting so-called “clean coal, carbon capture, natural gas, and mega-dams as climate solutions, this fund should not provide financial support for any projects that emit greenhouse gas pollution.”

The policies established by the fund's board, equally divided between developed and developing country representatives, have not to date prohibited the Green Climate Fund from financing dirty energy, including fossil fuels, destructive dams and nuclear power.

“Dirty energy is more than fossil fuels,” noted Zachary Hurwitz of International Rivers. “Hydropower dams can release methane, they can destroy carbon-sequestering forests, and they can displace thousands of people. And there’s nothing clean about the human rights violations that all too often result.”

Lidy Nacpil, director of Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, based in the Philippines, said, “In my country, we’re already facing the devastating consequences of climate change. Wealthy industrialized countries have a legal and moral obligation to repay their climate debt and support adaptation through the Green Climate Fund. But that’s not enough. The fund must not exacerbate climate change and its impacts by financing dirty energy.”

Endorsed by ActionAid USA, AIDA, Friends of the Earth US, Institute for Policy Studies, International Rivers, Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development

More information:

• Images: See pictures of climate marchers calling for No Dirty Energy in the Green Climate Fund
• Read the latest commentary from the Institute for Policy Studies on the Green Climate Fund
• Read the Global South Position Statement on the Green Climate Fund
• Read this Press Release on our site
• Read the blog, "Governments, Here's Your Ice Bucket Challenge"