MOBILISING FINANCE067

imidity has never been a hallmark ofgovernment declarations on climatechange. But while governments mayexpress lofty ambitions, many remain shyabout making commitments. This becomes obviouswhen looking at the commitments for emissionreductions in the Copenhagen Accord but it is also true for another essential component of a global climate agreement: finance. THE US$100 BILLION CHALLENGEIndustrialised countries committed in Copenhagen in2009 to generating US$100 billion annually by 2020for financing climate action in developing countries,both on mitigation and adaptation. For this commitment to help meeting the climatechallenge it needs to be predominantly public finance, which can be used to leverage much greateramounts of private finance for a massive shift ofinvestments into low-carbon technologies andinfrastructure. Undoubtedly, US$100 billion per year is a tall sum if itall has to come from cash-strapped governments stillreeling from the financial crisis. Fortunately, government budgets are not the onlysource of public finance. In 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon charged the High-Level AdvisoryGroup on Climate Finance (AGF) to investigate wherethis funding could come from. Their report confirmed that innovative sources ofpublic finance exist, and there is an opportunity now tomove forward with implementing some of them.HOW CAN INNOVATIVE SOURCES FORCLIMATE FINANCE WORK?Innovative sources can be defined as financialinstruments that generate public finance directly,outside government budgets, for international publicgoods - e.g. for climate action. This means that any levy, tax or other revenue would becommitted to specific climate action, and bechannelled through an international body, i.e. theUNFCCC. The sources considered by the AGF included measuresto address international transport, FinancialTransaction Taxes (FTTs), international auctioning ofemissions allowances, and Special Drawing Rightsissued by the IMF.THE TIME FOR CLIMATE FINANCE IS NOW068MOBILISING FINANCESAMANTHA SMITH, LEADER, WWF GLOBAL CLIMATE AND ENERGY INITIATIVE TIllustration: © www.BiggerPicture.dk / Stine Arensbach / WWF" "THE PIECES APPEAR TO BEFALLING INTOPLACE FOR A SOLUTION THAT RESPECTS THEPRINCIPLES ANDPRACTICES OF THE VARIOUS CONVENTIONS,AND ADDRESSESTHE CONCERNS OF DEVELOPEDAND DEVELOPINGCOUNTRIES