Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Environment and Climate of Sweden (Photo by Government Offices of Sweden)

Sweden Announces SEK 520 Million in New Pledge to Adaptation Fund, During UN Climate Summit

New York City, New York (September 24, 2019) — The Adaptation Fund received more good news during the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, when Sweden announced it is pledging SEK 520 million to the Fund.

The commitment, which is for the period of 2019-2022, amounts to about US$ 53 million.

Sweden has been consistently one of the top contributors to the Adaptation Fund, totaling about US$ 114 million in contributions to the Fund over the years prior to this new pledge.

“Sweden stands by its commitments to support other countries in climate action,” said H.E. Ms. Isabella Lövin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Environment and Climate of Sweden, in a tweet.

“We are very grateful to Sweden for this generous new contribution, it will go a long way to supporting concrete adaptation actions on the ground for the most vulnerable. We are also very appreciative to Sweden for their ongoing and consistent support of the Adaptation Fund and the leadership they have displayed in supporting adaptation,” said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Ms. Sylviane Bilgischer, of Belgium.

According to a press release from Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, “While Sweden is proud to stand by commitments to provide public finance to developing countries’ efforts to meet the challenge of climate change, accelerated action is needed to align global financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Sweden proudly contributes with policy, financing and innovative technology to support the transition to climate-smart communities and an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement.”

Sweden’s pledge to the Adaptation Fund followed an earlier announcement at the same UN Climate Summit by the Government of Québec, which pledged 3 million Canadian dollars to the Fund. The Government of Québec is a first-time contributor to the Fund. The contribution amounts to about US$ 2.26 million, based on currency exchange rates.

The contributions mark the second and third pledges to the Fund this year. In April, young climate leader Ms. Greta Thunberg, of Sweden, announced that she was donating a portion of her proceeds from the prestigious international Freedom Prize to the Fund. She received the award for inspiring urgently needed climate action across the globe.

The new pledges will help the Fund maintain its momentum toward COP25 in Chile, which will be featured as a COP of “action”.

The Fund received a single-year record amount of pledges at last year’s COP 24 in Poland with about US$ 129 million in contributions mobilized, while Parties during the conference decided the Fund shall formally serve the Paris Agreement in a momentous decision. The Fund has now been serving the Agreement since January 2019, and has been receiving record demand for project funding as the urgency for climate change continues to rise.

ABOUT the ADAPTATION FUND

Since 2010, the Adaptation Fund has committed more than US$ 830 million for climate change adaptation and resilience projects and programmes, including more than 120 concrete, localized projects in the most vulnerable communities of developing countries around the world with 28 million total beneficiaries. It also pioneered Direct Access, empowering countries to access funding and develop projects directly through accredited national implementing entities.

Communications: Matthew Pueschel, mpueschel@adaptation-fund.org or +1-202-473-6743

 

 

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