Minister commends Green Climate Fund

ENVIRONMENT, Conservation and Climate Change Minister John Pundari has commended Green Climate Fund (GCF) for reaching out to small islands developing states in the Pacific like Papua New Guinea.
During a meeting in Port Moresby last week between senior officials of GCF and the Government, which included Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Pundari said the PNG Government through the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) was working on improving its governance structure and internal finance management system to access direct GCF funding.
“The PNG Government through CCDA as the National Designated Authority (NDA) for GCF in PNG is working on improving its governance structure and internal finance management system,” Pundari said.
“The aim is to establish a strong financial management system which meets GCF’s fiduciary requirements and standards so that climate finance can be accessed directly in PNG.”
Pundari said PNG needed technical assistance and support from the GCF.
“I am very pleased with the GCF chairman, Ewen McDonald, to reach out to PNG to establish relations on how capacity-building assistance can be provided to enable PNG to access climate finance,” he said.
He said accessing direct finance was vital to assist PNG to implement its obligations under the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
McDonald said the process would be country-driven and coordinated through national agencies like CCDA.
“To enable stakeholders to better understand the GCF process and the role of accredited entities, a follow-up workshop will be held next month to be organised by GCF, CCDA and the Australian Ministry for Foreign Affairs,” he said.