Posted on 05 November
2010
New York, USA: A high level analysis of
climate finance submitted to the UN today
has demonstrated the feasibility of putting
up by 2020 US$100
billion a year in public funding to fight
climate change.
According to WWF, this
conservative analysis by the special High-level
Advisory Group on Climate Change Finance
(AGF) sets the stage for a finance agreement
to come out of the UN climate summit starting
late this month in Cancun, Mexico.
“The Secretary General’s
high level group has come up with the financial
mechanisms, now we look to governments to
come up with the political mechanisms to
get the finance actually flowing,” said
Gordon Shepherd, leader of WWF’s Global
Climate Initiative.
Financing, agreed in principle under the
Copenhagen Accord from the last UN climate
summit, is needed to support action in developing
countries to halt the destruction of tropical
forests, speed the transition away from
high-emission models of development, and
to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate
change impacts.
“These public funds
are critical to speed up the development
and implementation of new technologies,
as well as for adaptation and resilience
building, new energy efficient infrastructure,
and for construction. It will also be used
to leverage private sector finance which
will contribute much of the investments
needed in clean energy technologies,” said
Shepherd.
“Our experience is that
public investment and initiatives play key
roles in mobilising and directing private
investment.”
The AGF report gives
strong support for financing from carbon
pricing mechanisms, with one of the most
promising sectors being international aviation
and maritime transport, whose emissions
are as yet unregulated. “We expect decisive
action in Cancun to put this finance source
on a fast track to implementation”, said
Shepherd.
Other promising sources
were downplayed because of opposition from
some individual group members, with the
chief casualty being the financial transaction
tax (FTT).
““Financial transaction
taxes have been successfully implemented
in more than a dozen countries and at this
point we should be examining all potential
sources of finance on their merits”, said
Shepherd.
Although the assumptions
used by the AGF to assess the scale of potential
financing generated are extremely conservative,
and some members placed undue emphasis on
private sector investments in meeting the
$100 billion per year financing milestone,
the report provides a useful starting point
for moving forward.
Parties in Cancun can
build upon the AGF recommendation on the
way to establishing a much needed new UN
Climate Fund and could contribute to host
country Mexico’s wish for progress on all
elements of a “balanced” Cancun package.
The AGF was set up by
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
in February, Co-chaired by Prime Minister
Stoltenberg from Norway, and Prime Minister
Zenawi from Ethiopia, to explore innovative
financing sources and mobilize the financing
promised for climate change during the United
Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
last December.
More information on financing for climate
change and AGF: www.panda.org/climatefinance
