Global Priority: Climate Finance

 ABC Carbon Express #76

The Australian Government must use its influence as part of the G20 group to make a clear and immediate commitment of “climate finance” to help developing countries adapt and mitigate climate change, while a poll across 20 countries conducted for BBC World Service shows 72% support investments by Governments in renewable energy and green technology.

Australia and G20 must commit to climate finance

Joint statement from WWF, ACF, Greenpeace and World Vision:

Australia and G20 must commit to climate finance

Environment and development groups are calling on Australia to make a clear commitment to contributing our fair share of public funds to international climate change action.

Lack of agreement to effectively deliver public finance from developed countries to the developing world to fund greenhouse gas reductions and adaptation to unavoidable and immediate climate change impacts is the major impediment to securing the necessary global consensus at Copenhagen to avoid runaway climate change.

We call on the Australian Government to use its influence as part of the G20 group of nations to make a clear and immediate commitment to the provision of public finance to developing countries at the G20 leaders’ meeting next week.

It is in Australia’s and the world’s interest to commit to delivering transparent, predictable and equitable international climate finance. Helping developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate change is critical to getting a deal at Copenhagen.

Australia will be among the worst affected countries in the developed world if climate change continues, to avoid this, we must help developing countries shift to low carbon economies. Investing in tackling climate change now will sow the seeds for resilient and sustainable economies in the future, ignoring the problem will simply mean bigger financial bail outs in years to come.

The following commitments are urgently required to ensure that an effective global deal for rapid and equitable climate change action in Copenhagen in December:

1. Developed countries must commit to provide at least US$150 billion per annum in new and additional public finance to help developing countries reduce emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

2. The G20 members should identify new, predictable and adequate sources of public finance to meet this commitment, including a levy on international shipping and civil aviation, the auctioning of emissions allowances under the Kyoto Protocol, and a fund to prevent deforestation in developing countries.

3. The G20 should affirm that the governance of the finance mechanism will be guided by and accountable to Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC.

4. Australia must publicly indicate that this finance be new and additional to the existing 0.7% commitment of official development assistance, because climate change is compounding and worsening poverty world-wide.

In addition, the G20 nations must mobilise money in the short term to kick-start immediate and effective climate change action.

Money has been committed, but not delivered for agreed adaptation priorities for least developed countries: in the mean time, over 300,000 people die from climate change causes every year. Around 60 million hectares of tropical forest is expected to be lost in the next five years. A public fund is urgently needed to stem the tide of deforestation, the source of one fifth of the world’s greenhouse emissions.

Australia must fulfill its obligations to the developing world and make this financial commitment immediately. The success of the Copenhagen talks hangs in the balance. Australia must not let the opportunity to break the finance deadlock pass.

Source: www.wwf.org.au; www.acfonline.org.au; www.worldvision.org.au; www.greenpeace.org.au

The survey of more than 22,000 people, conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA, found that an average of three in five (60%) citizens—and majorities in 13 of the 20 countries polled—support “significantly increasing government spending to stimulate the economy.”  Support is especially strong for investments in renewable energy and green technology (72%) and for giving financial support to major industries and companies in trouble (62%).

Majorities around the world support governments playing an active role in stimulating and regulating their national economy in response to the current recession, according to a new poll across 20 countries conducted for BBC World Service.

Large numbers (67% overall) also want to see an increase in “government regulation and oversight of the national economy.” Among the major economies, this support was highest in China (94% support) and lowest in the US (50%) and Japan (38%).

The US government’s efforts to address the crisis, which have included far-reaching measures to stimulate the US economy, are being relatively well-received around the world. Nearly half (46%) of all respondents say they are satisfied with what the US has been doing, compared to 39% who are dissatisfied.

In comparison, 44% on average are satisfied with their own government’s response, 36% are satisfied with the actions of the World Bank and IMF, 32% with executives of major banks and 31% with the government of China. Overall people in developed countries show lower levels of satisfaction with all of these groups than do people in developing countries.

People’s satisfaction with their own government’s response varies greatly from country to country. Most express satisfaction in Australia (68%), Egypt (63%), Brazil (59%), Canada (57%), and Indonesia (57%). However, satisfaction is low in France (27%), Mexico (9%), Japan (18%), and the Philippines (24%). Americans are evenly split between those happy and those unhappy with their government’s response.

The results are drawn from a survey of 22,158 adult citizens across 20 countries, conducted for BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan, together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated fieldwork between 19 June and 17 August, 2009.

GlobeScan Chairman Doug Miller comments, “It is clear that citizens in many countries are still not seeing the kind of economic leadership they think is needed from their national government. Particularly low levels of satisfaction in Europe, Japan and Latin America suggest that stronger consumer confidence—seen as essential for economic recovery—will take more time in these parts of the world.”

Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments, “People around the world are looking for a dynamic approach to the economic crisis and are giving relatively good marks to the active efforts of the Obama administration.

Source: www.globescan.com