Query: U.S. Pays $1 Billion into Green Climate Fund, Top Polluters Pay Nothing

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Paris Agreement <=SEP=> The Paris Agreement ( Accord de Paris ) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation , adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020 . The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015 . It was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 ( Earth Day ) at a ceremony in New York . As of May 2017 , 195 UNFCCC members have signed the treaty , 147 of which have ratified it . After several European Union states ratified the agreement in October 2016 , there were enough countries that had ratified the agreement that produce enough of the world 's greenhouse gases for the agreement to enter into force . The agreement went into effect on 4 November 2016 .   The head of the Paris Conference , France 's foreign minister Laurent Fabius , said this `` ambitious and balanced '' plan is a `` historic turning point '' in the goal of reducing global warming .   One year on , the ratification of the Paris Agreement was celebrated by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo by illuminating the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe , Paris ' most iconic monuments , in green .

Emissions trading <=SEP=> Emissions trading or cap and trade is a government-mandated , market-based approach to controlling pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants . In contrast to command-and-control environmental regulations such as best available technology ( BAT ) standards and government subsidies , cap and trade ( CAT ) schemes are a type of flexible environmental regulation that allows organizations to decide how best to meet policy targets . Various countries , states and groups of companies have adopted such trading systems , notably for mitigating climate change .   A central authority ( usually a governmental body ) allocates or sells a limited number of permits to discharge specific quantities of a specific pollutant per time period . Polluters are required to hold permits in amount equal to their emissions . Polluters that want to increase their emissions must buy permits from others willing to sell them . Financial derivatives of permits can also be traded on secondary markets .   In theory , polluters who can reduce emissions most cheaply will do so , achieving the emission reduction at the lowest cost to society . Cap and trade is meant to provide the private sector with the flexibility required to reduce emissions while stimulating technological innovation and economic growth .   There are active trading programs in several air pollutants . For greenhouse gases , which cause climate change , permit units are often called carbon credits . The largest greenhouse gases trading program is the European Union Emission Trading Scheme , which trades primarily in European Union Allowances ( EUAs ) ; the Californian scheme trades in California Carbon Allowances , the New Zealand scheme in New Zealand Units and the Australian scheme in Australian Units . The United States has a national market to reduce acid rain and several regional markets in nitrogen oxides .

Green Climate Fund <=SEP=> The Green Climate Fund ( GCF ) is a fund within the framework of the UNFCCC founded as a mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change . The GCF is based in the new Songdo district of Incheon , South Korea . It is governed by a Board of 24 members and initially supported by a Secretariat .   `` The Green Climate Fund will support projects , programmes , policies and other activities in developing country Parties using thematic funding windows '' . It is intended to be the centrepiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance of $ 100 billion a year by 2020 . This is not an official figure for the size of the Fund itself , however . Disputes also remain as to whether the funding target will be based on public sources , or whether `` leveraged '' private finance will be counted towards the total . A total of US$ 10.3 billion has been pledged so far , which is meant to cover investments over a four year period . Only a fraction of this sum had been pledged as of July 2013 , mostly to cover start-up costs .   According to the Climate & Development Knowledge Network , at the third meeting of the Board in Berlin in March 2013 , members agreed on how to move forward with the fund 's Business Model Framework ( BMF ) . They identified the need to assess various options for how nations could access the fund , approaches for involving the private sector , plus ways to measure results and ensure requests for monies are country-driven . At the fourth Board meeting in Songdo , South Korea , in June 2013 , Hela Cheikhrouhou , a Tunisian national , was selected to become the Fund 's first Executive Director . Cheikhrouhou left the Fund in September 201