Posted
on 31 August 2010
Gland, Switzerland: Ministers meeting on
climate finance in Geneva this week should
stick to financial commitments made in Copenhagen
to help developing countries reduce emissions
and cope with climate change impacts.
While the Copenhagen
climate conference ended with disappointingly
little result, the Copenhagen Accord stipulated
at least a set of concrete promises by different
countries, including setting out levels
of climate finance to be delivered by developed
countries.
Ministers and representatives
from more than 30 countries are gathering
at the invitation of the Swiss and Mexican
governments to discuss key climate finance
issues in the lead-up to the next UN climate
conference in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November
to 10 December 2010.
"By transparently
mobilising public sector finance to meet
the commitments made in Copenhagen, ministers
can help set the scene for progress at climate
talks in China and Mexico,” said Gordon
Shepherd, Leader WWF Climate Initiative.
According to WWF, the
private sector can and should play an important
role, but if industrialized nations start
counting private investments as a significant
part of meeting their Copenhagen commitments,
it is going to be seen by developing countries
as an attempt to shirk their responsibilities..
"It is clear what
Ministers need to do - the promises of the
Copenhagen Accord exist and need to be kept
if developing countries are to re-gain trust
and engage in a wider global climate treaty,"
said Shepherd.
In the short term (2010
to 2012), US$ 30bn were promised with a
special focus on helping most vulnerable
communities to adapt to climate change,
while by 2020 developed countries promised
to provide US$ 100bn annually.
However, there is little
transparency on the delivery of the promised
short term funding that has been made available
already, and there has been little visible
progress towards a framework for delivery
on longer term funding commitments.
Public funding needs
to be clearly identified even when leveraging
private funding, WWF says. Private sector
finance can contribute much of the investments
needed in clean energy technologies, but
public funding is critical for research
and development, adaptation and resilience
building, infrastructure and construction,
as well as for leveraging much greater private
sector investments.
WWF estimates that public
funding at the level of USD 200 billion
will be necessary by the year 2020 for adaptation
and mitigation activities in developing
countries, and this is still small compared
to the scale of private finance that needs
to be mobilized for the energy transition,
which WWF estimates at ten times as much.
However, meeting the $100b pledged in Copenhagen
would still be a significant milestone.
