Update from WRI's Civil Society Climate Finance Strategy Meeting

On 23-25 February 2010, the World Resources Institute International Financial Flows and Environment project hosted a civil society climate finance strategy session at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, Virginia. The objective of the meeting was to generate a shared understanding of the “climate finance” landscape. Participants came from both developed and developing countries, and from a range of backgrounds in climate change, finance, and global governance.

The discussion focused on three critical aspects of the climate finance challenge:
1. where to find the funds necessary to respond on a global scale,
2. how to build the institutions that would manage and disburse these funds, and
3. how to spend the funds in an effective way.

WRI produced a conference report (PDF, 269 Kb) that provides an overview of the civil society strategy meeting. The report does not capture the entirety of the discussion, nor does it represent a consensus of the participants. Rather, it is intended to introduce a range of views on the critical issues that surround the climate finance debate:

• What is climate finance?
• What are the challenges of financing a global response to climate change?
• Find It: Mobilizing innovative sources to scale up climate finance
• Build It: Creating legitimate institutions for climate finance
• Spend It: Using scarce resources effectively
• Civil society strategies for moving forward

Full Report (PDF, 269 Kb)

Other Materials

• Agenda (PDF, 150 Kb)

• Participant List (PDF, 70 Kb)

• Background Paper (PDF, 248 Kb): A background paper outlining the current climate finance landscape was prepared by Jon Sohn of McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP for the retreat.

• Background Documents on Innovative Financial Sources for Climate Finance

  • Bunker Fuel Levies (PDF, 166 Kb)
  • Financial Transaction Taxes (PDF, 16 Kb)
  • Fossil Fuel Subsidies (PDF, 177 Kb)
  • Special Drawing Rights from the IMF (PDF, 86 Kb)

PowerPoint Presentations

Several participants presented on various topics throughout the retreat. Please find their presentations below:

• Climate Finance: Issues and Opportunities (Jon Sohn, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, LLP) (PDF, 151 Kb)

• International Climate Finance: Scale and Possible Sources (Jorg Haas, Project Catalyst) (PDF, 432 Kb)

• The Financial Crisis (Michael Clark) (Word File, 2.1 Mb)

• Financial Transaction Taxes (Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies) (Powerpoint, 135 Kb)

• Fossil Fuel Subsidies (Steve Kretzman, OilChange International) (Powerpoint, 7.2 Mb)

• The European Investment Bank and Climate Finance (Petr Hlobil, CEE Bankwatch) (Powerpoint, 790 Kb)

• The Asian Development Bank in Climate and Development (Red Constantino, NGO Forum on the ADB) (Powerpoint, 2.8 Mb)

• The Road Forward from Copenhagen (Alden Meyer, Union for Concerned Scientists) (Powerpoint, 3.1 Mb)

For more information please contact Emily Chessin, echessin@wri.org