…Announces the 20th edition of the International Anti-Corruption Conference
The United States has pledged $600.8 million over the next four years to support the eighth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF-8).
This commitment, the largest GEF in the US, aligns with continuing US priorities and supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to address climate change, conserve global carbon sinks and other critical ecosystems, and restore the health of our ocean.
The United States joined 28 other donors in collectively pledging more than $5 billion to support GEF-8, an increase of nearly 30 percent over GEF-7.
The pledge will help protect rainforests and other critical carbon sinks; address plastic pollution in the oceans; combat wildlife trafficking and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; and reduce hazardous transboundary pollutants like PCBs and mercury that can affect the health of Americans.
In its Budget for fiscal year 2023, the Administration requested $150.2 million for the GEF, as the first of four planned installments for the US contribution to GEF-8.
The GEF is one of the world’s largest dedicated funders of projects and programs to improve the global environment. It is the world’s leading multilateral source of financing for biodiversity and is the only multilateral environmental fund whose mandate is to achieve global environmental benefits in a diverse set of focal areas that also include chemicals and waste, climate change mitigation, land degradation ( including desertification and deforestation). ), and international waters.
The United States supported the establishment of the GEF in 1991 and has contributed to all seven replenishments. Since its launch in 1991, the GEF has provided nearly $22 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $119 billion in co-financing to safeguard the global environment.
The GEF Association encompasses 184 member governments, 18 implementing agencies, more than 500 civil society organizations, international agencies and funds, and companies from all major sectors.
Meanwhile, the US government, coordinated by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), is partnering with Transparency International (TI) to support the 20th edition of the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) to be held in Washington, DC, from December 6-10, 2022, with the theme “Uprooting Corruption: Upholding Democratic Values”.
In response to corruption, which is a transnational threat, President Biden established anti-corruption as a core US national security interest, launched the first-ever US Strategy to Counter Corruption, and elevated the fight against corruption as a pillar of the Summit for Democracy. His Administration is expanding and leveraging diplomatic and foreign assistance tools to advance these efforts.
US government partnerships with international organizations, governments, civil society, and the private sector have been critical to anti-corruption efforts around the world. Through the IACC, the US government and TI will bring together more than 10,000 people from 180 countries to continue advancing historic anti-corruption initiatives.