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, 23 pages, 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, 23 pages, 269 Kb)

Other Materials

• Agenda (PDF, 4 pages, 150 Kb)

• Participant List (PDF, 2 pages, 70 Kb)

• Background Paper (PDF, 21 pages, 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, 4 pages, 166 Kb)
  • Financial Transaction Taxes (PDF, 3 pages, 16 Kb)
  • Fossil Fuel Subsidies (PDF, 2 pages, 177 Kb)
  • Special Drawing Rights from the IMF (PDF, 9 pages, 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, 20 pages, 151 Kb)

• International Climate Finance: Scale and Possible Sources (Jorg Haas, Project Catalyst) (PDF, 34 pages, 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