Sharjah24 – AFP: New Zealand pledged Monday to quadruple foreign aid spending on climate change, addressing its "woefully inadequate" response to the challenge in recent decades.
As representatives from around the world prepare for a landmark UN summit on global warming, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wellington would lift its climate aid budget to $930 million over four years.
Ardern said at least half the money would go to Pacific island nations, many of which are low-lying and face being swamped by rising seas.
"We need to continue to step up our support for our Pacific family and neighbours who are on the front line of climate change and need our support most," she said in a statement.
Ardern said the money would help communities withstand damaging storm surges, rising seas and increasing extreme weather that brought flooding and drought.
New Zealand's existing climate aid budget is rated "critically insufficient" by monitoring website Climate Action Tracker, with the country's overall response to global warming listed as "highly insufficient".
The increased funds from 2022-25 will make New Zealand's per capita contribution to global climate finance equal to Britain's.
Climate Change Minister James Shaw said comparatively wealthy countries such as New Zealand had a duty to help vulnerable nations prepare for climate change.
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