In its second major international climate policy announcement of the week, the Obama administration is expected to declare as early as Friday that it intends to provide $3 billion over the course of four years to help developing countries adapt to global warming impacts and transition to renewable energy technologies.

President Obama is expected to make the announcement at the start of the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia, raising the pressure on other G20 leaders to follow through with their own pledges.

See also: 8 weird things banned at the G20 in Australia

The announcement, which was first reported by The Guardian, particularly shines a spotlight on Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who has said his nation will not pay into the fund — and who has played a role in keeping climate change off the list of priorities of the G20 summit. Abbott’s government also dismantled a carbon tax program and is viewed as being skeptical on mainstream climate science findings.

The money, which would be paid into a U.N. fund known as the Green Climate Fund (GCF), would be subject to congressional approval, which could be complicated due to the incoming Republican majorities’ resistance to both foreign aid programs and climate policy.

The fund was created in 2010 as a way for industrialized nations to help developing countries boost their climate resilience and reduce their use of fossil fuels, such as coal, which contribute to global warming.

Global warming will hit developing countries, which have the least historical responsibility for causing global warming, the hardest. Adapting to sea level rise and other impacts will require billions in investments each year, according to multiple scientific assessments.

The announcement is aimed at boosting the prospects for a global climate agreement by the end of 2015, which is an international deadline for crafting a new treaty that would go into effect in 2020. The next round of U.N. climate negotiations begin in Lima, Peru, in less than three weeks, and a GCF commitment ahead of these talks may increase the chances for success, because without it, developing countries were less likely to commit to take on emissions reduction commitments of their own.

In addition, a meeting specifically focused on GCF pledges is scheduled for Nov. 19 and 20 in Berlin, during which other industrialized countries are expected to make their own contributions public.

“It helps towards getting an international agreement done in 2015 which this administration cares deeply about,” Heather Coleman, climate change manager for Oxfam, told Mashable. "I think developing countries are going to be very happy with this money and with this pledge.”

On the heels of the U.S.-China emissions deal

Also boosting the odds of less contentious negotiations is the landmark agreement between the U.S. and China, which was announced on Wednesday. The U.S. agreed to reduce its emissions by between 26% and 28% by 2025, while China committed to peaking its emissions by 2030 at the latest, and raising its share of electricity generated by renewable energy technologies — such as solar and hydropower — to 20%.

“This week has breathed new life into global climate action. Building on the landmark US-China climate agreement, this pledge signifies that the US is serious about delivering a global climate agreement,” said Andrew Steer, president of the World Resources Institute, a Washington research group, in a statement. “These funds provide critical support to vulnerable communities that are unable to withstand the impacts of climate change on their own. Further, these funds can be used to support US companies looking to expand low-carbon opportunities overseas.”

The $3 billion figure, if approved, would be the largest pledge from any country to date, reflecting the fact that the U.S. has the greatest historical responsibility for global warming, having emitted the most global warming pollution, such as carbon dioxide, since the start of the industrial revolution. (China emits the most now, but the U.S. has greatest historical carbon footprint.)

The ultimate annual funding goal for the GCF is $100 billion, but nations are working toward an initial capitalization of $10 to $15 billion to start with. With the U.S. contribution, the GCF would still fall short of that goal, with a total of about $6 billion in pledges. However, other industrialized countries, such as the UK, have not yet made their pledges known.

“I think it signifies that this administration wants to do the right thing on this issue,” Coleman said.

“I think he is thinking… Listen, I am going to show my commitment to this issue," she added, regarding Obama’s approach to climate change issues. “He has nothing to lose anymore.”

In remarks at a town hall meeting at Yangon University in Rangoon, Burma on Friday, Obama said the world is currently on a path to experience “catastrophic impacts around the world" from global warming.

“We're seeing the impacts in developed countries. We see it in my own country. And we're seeing impacts in poor countries. And we're seeing impacts, obviously, in island nations where if the temperatures continue to rise, we'll end up with oceans that are two feet or three feet higher, and it could swallow up entire countries,” Obama said.

Past and projected increase in sea level, which will cost low-lying areas billions in coming decades, particularly in Southeast Asia. Image: National Climate Assessment

The $3 billion comes in addition to $2 billion that the U.S. committed during the George W. Bush administration to a World Bank climate investment fund. According to Oxfam, the $3 billion figure is “roughly equivalent” to the percentage of funds the U.S. provides to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Getting the funds through Congress will be an uphill battle, but climate advocates on Capitol Hill will seek to push this through. “My feeling about that is any climate-related financing has a bullseye on it in this Congress,” Coleman said. “You have a group of Democrats who I think will step up.”

On Nov. 7, four U.S. senators, all Democrats, wrote a letter to President Obama advocating for a “substantial pledge” to the GCF. “A substantial pledge to the GCF is necessary to assist developing nations in adapting to climate change and reducing their emissions, and may well be a necessary prerequisite for any future international agreement on climate change,” the letter read.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth said the $3 billion pledge was far short of what's necessary. "Given the partisan make-up of Congress, $3 billion is a reasonable figure,” said Karen Orenstein, a senior international policy analyst with the group, in a statement. “But if we step outside of Washington’s warped politics, then $3 billion falls magnitudes below what is actually needed by developing countries to confront a climate crisis that is not of their making.”

So far, The GCF has already accrued close to $3 billion in developed country contributions, following $1 billion pledges each from Germany and France, along with eight other countries.

On Thursday, the Kyodo News Agency reported that Japan will also announce its $1.5 billion contribution during the G-20 meeting.

Developing countries are also contributing to the fund, including Mexico and Indonesia.

Coleman said it is likely that Peru and other South American countries will also make their own contributions, even though they are under no obligation to do so.