Greenbacks for green projects in poor nations

Washington Donations for Green Projects

The Obama administration has announced its new program to draw funds from international partners to spend $350 million over five years to supply the developing world with clean energy technology.

As the UN summit on climate change hits the rocks with the poorer nations, led by Africa, threaten to walk out of the talks as if they do not progress in a way they see fit. Developing countries are concerned that US and other rich nations will look to move away from the Kyoto Protocol, leaving poor countries without the benefits gained from the deal when it was signed in 1997.

But the US program will try and alleviate these fears by contributing to the distribution of solar power alternatives for homes, including sun-powered lanterns, supply of cleaner equipment and appliances and a push to fund and put in place renewable energy systems in the world's poorer nations.

"Suite of technology action plans"

As ADN.com reports, the funding plan grew out of the Major Economies Forum (MEF) established among the world's top economies earlier this year, with a decision to produce detail plans and spending at the July summit meeting in L'Aquila, Italy.

$85 million of the program will come from the US with the remainder coming from Australia, Britain, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, the White House said in a statement by spokesman Robert Gibbs.

In a statement the White House said: "The US and it's partners have been working to develop a suite of technology action plans, which lay out options for ambitious government action on 10 key clean energy technologies: advanced vehicles; bio-energy; building energy efficiency; carbon capture, use and storage; high-efficiency, low-emissions coal; industrial energy efficiency; marine energy; smart grid; solar energy; and wind energy."

Unlikely to improve relations

However, in the grand scheme of things $350 million is not a great deal of money, and threatens to make even less of an impact when spread over five years. The figure is unlikely to improve relations between the rich and the poor in Copenhagen, and unfortunately it looks like the distinct lack of optimism surrounding this UN climate change summit will be with good reason.

Come on Washington, and the rest of the developed world for that matter, surely you can do better than $350 million?

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