IKEA and Rockefeller Foundation Donate $1 Billion to Supply Renewable Energy to Emerging Countries

[Photo by AFP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The IKEA Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation announced on the 21st (local time) that they plan to donate $1 billion to supply renewable energy to developing countries, Bloomberg reported on the same day.

IKEA and the Rockefeller Foundation will each donate $500 million. The two foundations estimate that the $1 billion support will enable the supply of renewable energy to approximately 1 billion people over the next 10 years. They also expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 1 billion tons.

As greenhouse gas reduction has become a global issue, emerging countries express dissatisfaction that they must invest in greenhouse gas reduction under the same standards as developed countries. Currently, the main culprits of global warming are the developed countries that led the industrial era, and it is considered unreasonable to impose the same burden on emerging countries.

In response, developed countries promised in 2009 to raise $100 billion annually by 2020 to help developing countries respond to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To implement this concretely, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established in 2010. However, the promises of developed countries have not been fulfilled. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), $78.9 billion was pledged in 2018, falling significantly short of the originally promised amount.

Bloomberg explained that amid growing pressure on developed countries to increase support, the Rockefeller and IKEA foundations' donation is meaningful.

The two foundations stated that they hope this $1 billion donation will lead to additional support from other private organizations or international cooperation agencies.