The Road to Copenhagen: Lots of ideas, no common vision

Bonn The first week of the negotiations in Bonn has ended. It has been an interesting week, to say the least, with lots of interesting ideas on how to move forward on finance and technology transfer. One of the highlights was the discussion on investment and finance to address climate change on Thursday afternoon. These were some of the ideas put forward:

Barbados, speaking for small islands, proposed a new Adaptation fund for small islands which emphasis on insurance and technology fund.
Mexico proposed a world climate change fund on mitigation, adaptation and technology transfer, to which all countries would contribute according to greenhouse gas emissions, population and national income.
China proposed an approach for funding from developed countries as a percentage of their national income to be channeled by the UNFCCC.

Norway proposed auctioning emission allowances to finance adaptation.

Korea proposed awarding credits from something the called “nationally appropriate mitigation action” in developing countries to enable deeper cuts by developed countries parties.

Switzerland suggested a global carbon dioxide levy of US$2 per tonne on all fossil fuel emissions, with an exception for less developed countries.

Bangladesh, speaking for the least developed countries, identified possible sources of funding such as a Convention fund, a levy on international air travel, and an international fuel levy to finance the global response to climate change.

To these ideas, The Philippines, speaking for developing counties, identified basic principles, including equity and direct access to funding by recipients. The European Union said the challenge to ensure sufficient financing for climate change is significant but affordable.

Lots of ideas, but no consensus yet. With less than two years until Copenhagen, its unclear how we are going to get from vague proposals to actual action. What would you propose to pay for the response needed to address climate change?
For more detailed record of the negotiations, click here

About Juan

Juan Hoffmaister has been part of SustainUS since 2004 . Originally from Costa Rica, Juan is devoted to improve global climate policy to protect vulnerable communities. Juan has a BA Human Ecology with emphasis in Environmental Health and Policy from College of the Atlantic, where he studied as a Davis Scholar. Juan believes in an interdisciplinary approach to solving the climate challenge. He has recently completed research on the role of Emissions Trading and international standards to reduce GHG emissions through market-based mechanisms and the role of the GEF-UNDP Small Grants Program in improving access to renewable energy and methane capture. He is currently working to improve disaster preparedness measures for small islands, particularly Fiji and Kiribati in the South Pacific, and he will be soon working on community adaptation measures in coastal Vietnam as as part of a Watson Fellowship.

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