VALLETTA: Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat unveiled on Friday a new $1 billion Commonwealth Green Finance Facility (CGFF) to support environmental projects within the 53-nation bloc as the race against

climate change intensifies. The CGFF will start with a working group, bringing together representatives from countries including Australia, Britain, Canada, Malaysia and Nigeria, and financial companies including HSBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the facility said in a statement. The $1 billion (950-million-euro) facility would be capitalised initially through sovereign contributions and then through so-called green bonds, and is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2016. The project was announced during the first day of the 2015

Commonwealth summit, which is being seen as a stepping stone towards a UN climate conference in Paris on Monday.