UN launches new advisory group to mobilize climate change financing
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday announced a high-level advisory group to mobilize the financing promised for climate change during December's UN conference in Copenhagen.
The new group, co-chaired by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, will include heads of state and governments, high-level officials from ministries and central banks as well as experts on public finance, development and related issues, according to the UN.
With balanced representation between developing and developed countries, members will be appointed for a 10-month term and are expected to produce a mid-term report in May and a final report containing recommendations before the next climate change conference in Mexico in December, according to a statement issued by Ban's spokesperson.
As part of its work, the group would develop practical proposals on how to significantly scale up long-term financing for mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries from public and private sources, the statement said.
"While some of the existing mechanisms can be scaled up, the group would in particular focus on the need for new and innovative long-term sources of finance, in order to fill the gap in international climate financing," it said.
The group would be guided by an overall framework for new financing mechanisms, studying how new financing was raised, and on how new resources were being delivered. The group would provide views and suggestions based on the best possible analysis and which were politically and technically feasible, the statement said.
A full list of the members of the group would be made public shortly, it added.
Developing countries need assistance not only to boost clean energy efforts, but also to adapt to the consequences of climate change. In Copenhagen, countries agreed to mobilize some 30 billion U.S. dollars over the next three years and 100 billion U.S. dollars annually by 2020 for adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries.
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