15 Oct Meet The V20 Group

Meet the ‘Vulnerable Twenty’ group or “V20” group made up of finance ministers from 20 small countries from Asia to Latin America, including two Caribbean countries, that are most vulnerable to climate change.

A counter initiative to the G20 group of leading industrialized and emerging economies, the V20 group, led by the Philippines, recently formed to share and scale financial resources for the 20 nations that the ministers are representing where close to 700 million people live, and are most threatened by climate change and global warming. The group aims to serve as a platform for leaders and countries highly vulnerable to climate change and have a dialogue on shared interests regarding climate change around the globe, raising public and private financing and other means to effectively combat climate change and the effects of global warming.

The nations that are members of the V20 group are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados , Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, St. Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Vietnam. Collectively, the ministers have committed to foster a significant increase of public and private finance for action toward climate change and global warming from a myriad of sources.

The V20 group held its inaugural meeting October 8th in Lima, Peru, where the group has established and assigned the ‘V20 Working Group’ to define the groups milestones, and implement their action plan. The V20 group also plans to be present at the UN’s ‘2015 Paris Climate Conference,’ or Cop 21, November 30th to December 11th 2015 Paris, France to significantly engage in talks and contribute to a legally binding agreement on climate with all nations of the world.

To learn more deeply about the V20 group, its founding, members and mission, visit the Climate Vulnerable Forum at thecvf.org.