29 April 2011: Speaking at the conclusion of the first meeting of the Green Climate Fund’s Transitional Committee in Mexico City, Mexico, Christiana Figueres, UNFCCC Executive Secretary, observed that a well-designed Green Climate Fund will help to ensure a low-carbon future that is sustainable and profitable.

The Transitional Committee is composed of seven members from Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean respectively, two members from both small island developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and 15 from developed countries.

Figueres noted that the members of the Transitional Committee from both developing and developed countries had “set out an important vision for the fund as a central tool to assist countries to transform their economies towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future.” The task of the Transitional Committee is to propose an effective design for the new fund in time for approval by the next UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, in December 2011.

During the meeting, Transitional Committee members stressed the need for efficiency and effectiveness through clear accountability, ensuring that the fund will be responsive to the needs of developing countries, and underlining the need for good governance founded on the principles of equity, fairness and trust. They further underscored the Fund’s role in leveraging other sources of finance, including from the private sector, in order to scale up climate finance to the levels needed.

The meeting elected three Co-Chairs, namely: Ernesto Cordero Arroyo, Mexican Finance Minister; Trevor Manuel, South African Minister in the Presidency for Planning; and Kjetil Lund, Norway’s State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance. Commenting on the election, Figueres noted the “impressive and essential mix of experience and skills combines the practical knowledge of managing finance with the practical needs of developing nations to create sustainable futures.” [UNFCCC Press Release]