ODI On... United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 16th Conference of the Parties

29 November - 10 December 2010

Climate finance is central to the agenda of the Cancun meeting because financing is so important to reaching a new agreement. It has also proved to be a deeply contentious issue between developed and developing countries. ODI's work on aims to bring fresh perspectives and lesson learning from development finance. Our analysis focuses on the emerging governance framework for climate finance and the role that public sector and private sector finance can play.

Outputs

Overview

Outputs

Cancun: a well spun story?

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 14 December 2010

The general reaction to the just completed UNFCCC Cancun Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting was that it was a great deal more successful than its predecessor in Copenhagen a year ago. However, despite the positive conference management in Mexico, do the final agreements on long-term cooperative action justify such a positive assessment? I

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Climate finance: some lessons from debt relief

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 6 December 2010

Could debt relief help steer one possible course through the acronyms and mechanisms of climate finance talks in Cancún? Jonathan Glennie investigates on The Guardian Poverty Matters blog.

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Making climate finance work: key issues in the short-and longer term, from pledge to project

Event - Public event - 4 December 2010 11:30 - 13:00 (GMT-06)

This side event will provide lessons and insights highly relevant for the ongoing political discussions in Cancun related to finance issues as well as for the debates being held by investors in sustainable energy solutions around the globe.

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The politics of climate finance

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 26 November 2010

A high-level international report on how financial resources can be raised to help developing countries address climate change is a disappointing and politics-free compromise. Simon Maxwell proposes a way beyond it.

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As attention shifts to COP16, let’s not forget...

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 26 November 2010

Multilateralism is clearly under strain. Much optimism was pinned on the ability of the G-20 to reach agreement on finance for climate change; after all, in the immediate aftermath of the October 2008 global financial crisis, new resources were announced for trade finance. In fact, new resources to sustain the global financial system just keep coming. But, with negotiations for a new deal on climate change at COP16 rapidly approaching, and the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 clearly in sight, how optimistic should we be about any new deal now?

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Looking at effectiveness as well as transparency in climate finance

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 23 November 2010

International finance for climate change is a hotly debated issue at the international level, and has become an important barometer for how rich countries with high historical emissions will help developing countries shift away from carbon-intensive development to lower carbon development pathways.

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An equitable governance framework for climate finance

Publication - Articles and blogs - 19 October 2010

Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report

Neil Bird

A framework of principles outlining how climate finance should be mobilised, administered and disbursed is lacking. This article describes such a framework, based on principles already embedded with the UNFCCC text.

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Climate Finance Fundamentals

Publication - Research reports and studies

This series of short, introductory briefings on various aspects of climate finance aim to develop a better understanding of the quantity and quality of financial flows going to developing countries.

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Overview

After last year’s meeting in Copenhagen, the 2010 UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) turns to Mexico and Cancun. Climate finance is central to the agenda of the Cancun meeting because agreeing on finance will be a critical step in moving towards a new global agreement. Providing new and additional finance has proved to be a deeply contentious issue between developed and developing countries, although the commitments made within the Copenhagen Accord signalled a significant step forward.

ODI brings a fresh perspective on climate finance. Our analysis focuses on the emerging governance framework and the roles that public and private sector finance can play. We look at:

how climate finance can be sourced from the public and private sectors;
how it might be raised using different instruments and in different forms (for example, by grant funding or concessional loans);
how funding is disbursed at the national level and what can be learned from development cooperation.

Our analysis on climate finance builds on work on the Climate Funds Update website that is tracking the development of climate finance mechanisms and funds.