Many countries see boosting the size of the fledgling Green Climate Fund (GCF) as central to the accord, which is expected in December, Héla Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the fund, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.
"Clarity about the growth pathway of the level of financial resources through the Green Climate Fund is going to be an essential ingredient of a successful agreement," she said from South Korea, where the fund is based.
Late last year, 33 governments pledged almost $10.2 billion to the GCF, but turning those promises into actual contributions is a slow process.
As of Thursday, around 40 percent of the pledges were covered by legal agreements specifying when they will be delivered, short of a 50 percent target set for April 30.
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The fund will channel finance to countries vulnerable to climate change to help them adapt to its impacts, such as extreme weather and rising seas, and to develop cleanly.
Its director said developing countries, beginning with Mexico and Gabon, had indicated they were relying on support from the GCF to implement the voluntary commitments all nations have been asked to submit for the new climate change deal.
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Cheikhrouhou said technologies supported by the fund must be compatible with recommendations from the U.N. climate panel that the world has to live within a carbon budget, two thirds of which has already been used up.
"Our mandate is to promote a paradigm shift away from business as usual ... to low-emissions development," she said.
The overall financial burden on developing nations is getting heavier, as they are expected to become more resilient to climate change impacts, to prepare and respond to disasters, and to achieve sustainable development, Cheikhrouhou said.
"This cannot be a zero sum game - there has to be growth in the level of finance going to the developing countries," she said.
Read more at Paris Climate Deal Must Swell New UN Fund: Director
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