International Climate Finance: Principles for European Support to Developing Countries

By Neil Bird and Jessica Brown

Working Paper No. 6 - March 2010

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The commitment to provide new finance in support of climate change actions in developing countries was one of the few areas where tangible progress was made at the Copenhagen COP meeting. In light of this, securing a system that supports such financial flows to developing countries is an immediate challenge for the international community. This paper examines Europe’s approach to the provision of such finance.

Over the immediate period up to 2012 there are a number of choices for Europe: whether to continue the focus on fund mobilisation or to direct more effort at the design of optimal disbursement channels within developing countries; whether to continue with a range of initiatives or to acknowledge any redundancy or competition and address these; and how to align with outside global interests, including the United States, in order to keep the UNFCCC process alive. 

About the authors:

Neil Bird is Research Fellow, Climate Change, Environment and Forests Programme at ODI. Neil Bird's current research investigates the governance and institutional structure of environmental policy processes, as well as the international funding initiatives that have been recently been put in place to provide the resources for tackling climate change (both through mitigation and adaptation measures) in aid-receiving countries.  This work complements earlier research on aid architecture, national budgetary processes, sector policies and governance.

Jessica Brown is Research Officer, Climate Change, Environment and Forests Programme at ODI. Her research interests include carbon markets and their impacts on local development; reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD); international climate finance mechanisms; and the impact of national and international policy processes on both climate change and development.

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