Funding Sources for International Climate Policy

Delivering substantially increased new and additional, adequate, predictable and sustainable financial resources will have to be a key outcome of the UNFCCC negotiation process towards an international climate change agreement to be achieved in Copenhagen by the end of 2009. Resources are required to assist developing countries in mitigating emissions (incl. REDD) and adapting (incl. insurance) to the adverse consequences of climate change. During the last year, a number of countries have made proposals for instruments that could deliver a certain amount of financial resources.

This briefing paper analyses seven key approaches that have been proposed and judges them against a number of politically relevant criteria. As a conclusion, the international sale of AAUs, through auctioning a share or selling it at a fixed price, appears to be the most favourable option, ideally in combination with approaches to generate resources from the sectors international aviation and maritime transport. However, there are still unanswered legal and technical questions regarding the different proposals which would require further investigation.

>> Briefing Paper (including Summary for Policymakers) [PDF, 460 KB]

>> Press release 29 March 2009
>> German version