Media CenterCRS Applauds Obama Administration for Funding Green Climate Fund

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CONTACT:
Kim Pozniak
Catholic Relief Services
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410-951-7281

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BALTIMORE, MD, March 10, 2016 -- Catholic Relief Services (CRS) applauds the Obama Administration for transferring $500 million to the Green Climate Fund. This initial step towards meeting the Administration's $3 billion pledge to the Fund give us and those most impacted by climate change hope for the future. 

The deposit is a first installment of a $3 billion pledge over four years by the United States to the Green Climate Fund. The fund was set up by the U.N. to assist developing countries in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

“We are supportive of the Green Climate Fund because it is designed to help the world’s poorest countries access technology and expertise to reduce their own emissions, and help their most vulnerable citizens to cope with the consequences of climate change,” said Joan Rosenhauer, Catholic Relief Services’ vice president for U.S. Operations.

“Our partners and the farmers we work with in the developing world are experiencing the effects of climate change now and we can’t wait to help them adapt. It’s a matter of survival.” 

In a letter to Congress in October 2015, CRS, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA requested that the United States fund the Green Climate Fund. “Climate change has exacerbated problems such as coffee leaf rust in Central America, droughts in Syria, the Sahel and East Africa, and storms of historic proportions affecting North America and Asia,” they said.

The Green Climate Fund is also an important part of the UN Climate Agreement, which has brought the world together to tackle climate change.

CRS echoes what Pope Francis has expressed for some time now, especially in his encyclical Laudato Si’. “We must be better stewards of our environment, to address the causes of climate change, and to help the poor cope with and adapt to the changes they are experiencing in their climate,” Rosenhauer said.

CRS urges Congress to fully fund the Administration’s FY17 request of $750 million for the Green Climate Fund.

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Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. The agency alleviates suffering and provides assistance to people in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. For more information, please visit crs.org or crsespanol.org and follow CRS on social media: Facebook, @CatholicRelief, @CRSnews, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.