The White House says its $3 billion pledge to a global climate change fund under last year’s Paris deal is the right thing to do both “morally” and as a matter of economic and national security.
“That’s why I’m proud that the U.S. has committed to contribute $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund starting this year,” said Shaun Donovan, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, on Friday.
“It’s the morally right thing to do to protect our common home. And it’s also the right thing to do for our fiscal, economic and national security,” he said.
Donovan made the remarks on the final day of a major climate change summit held in Washington on last year’s United Nations climate deal, which countries reached in Paris. The summit was held to hold nations accountable for meeting the goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Green Climate Fund is a key part of the Paris deal, which is seeking to secure $100 billion a year from large economies to help smaller countries adapt to the effects of global warming, such as sea-level rise. The green fund has been a main point of contention between Republican lawmakers and the administration over the president’s efforts to to secure the U.N. climate agreement.
The administration has currently contributed $500 million to the fund, and it requested $750 million for the fund in its fiscal 2017 budget request.
Donovan said helping countries to adapt helps all countries to deal with the effects of climate change. But the “cost of inaction can extend beyond borders” by contributing to global “unrest,” he added, reiterating the administration’s position that climate change is in large part to blame for the escalation of violence in the Middle East.
“In Syria, it contributed to mass migration and urban unrest,” he said.
Price shocks from crop failures in Russia due to drought “can contribute to political unrest,” he added.
“One country’s failure to adapt, undermines the security and economies of all others,” Donovan said. “What we do here on adaptation matters everywhere. And what happens where you live affects us.”
