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The ecbi Finance Circle
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Public Library
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Documents which have been submitted by members of the Circle for the
public domain, can be downloaded from this page for public viewing.
Listed in reverse chronological order
Publisher: OIES Year: 2013 Contributed on 6th May 2013 by Benito Müller on the topic: Enhanced Direct Access, National Funding Abstract: Information Note on the Green Climate Fund Business Model Framework
The Governing Instrument of the Green Climate Fund stipulates: The Board will consider additional modalities that further enhance direct access, including through funding entities with a view to enhancing country ownership of projects and programmes.
Unfortunately, it does not elaborate further either on the concept of ‘enhanced direct access’ nor on the notion of a ‘funding entity’. The aim of this note is to fill this semantic lacuna, and give a brief overview of a concrete example of the latter.
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Publisher: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies Year: 2013 Contributed on 20th February 2013 by Benito Müller on the topic: Green Climate Fund, Enhanced Direct Acce Abstract: Oxford Energy and Environment Brief
February 2013
At the second meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board in October 2012, India announced they would prepare a submission with regards to the Board deliberations on a business model for the GCF. A consultation meeting was held in New Delhi on 15-16 February 2013 for which Benito Müller (Director Energy and Environment, OIES) was asked to contribute one of three background papers, focussing on access modalities and disbursement instruments. This Oxford Energy and Environment Brief is based on this background paper. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Standing Committee Abstract: Participants of the inaugural meeting of the Standing Committee, 6 September 2012, Bangkok, Thailand
Photo Courtesy of Hyunwoo Kim/UNFCCC |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Quantity Performance Instruments Abstract: Oxford Energy and Environment Brief
August 2012
The brief reviews options for the use of such Quantity-Performance instruments as a way of channelling public funds to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective way. QP instruments reward quantified mitigation performance, typically measured in tonnes of CO 2 -equivalent of achieved emissions reductions.
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Title: Monitoring, Reporting and Verifying systems for climate finance in EU and its Member States
Author: Adarsh Varma (AEA), Aaron Atteridge (SEI), Marianna Doria (Ecosecurities), Lena Ruthner (AEA), Chris Dodwell (AEA), Robert Tippmann (Ecosecurities), Marie Olsson (SEI), Chloe Beacham (Ecosecurities) and Robbie Gregorowski (ITAD)Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: MRV of financial support Abstract: Report for European Commission Directorate-General for Climate Action
prepared by AEA Technology, SEI, Ecosecurities
27 October 2011 |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Maria on the topic: Climate Investment Funds Abstract: Update on Key Decisions taken at the May 2012 Climate Investment Funds Meetings
30 April – 4 May 2012 | Washington, DC
The civil society observers to the CIFs trust fund committees and sub‐committees prepared this note to update civil society on key issues considered and agreed upon at the recent CIFs meetings.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Finance sources: LDC Press Release Abstract: Bonn- 11 May 2012
The least developed countries (LDCs) today expressed
their increasing concern about the direction that discussions on climate finance might take in the negotiations.
The issue was discussed during the LDC preparatory meeting that has been
taking place in Bonn over the last two days ahead of the official climate
negotiations on Monday. The chair of the group, Pa Ousman Jarju, said there was cincreasing concern from LDC’s that the developed world was not taking its
financial commitments seriously |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: GCF architecture: observer participation Abstract: OIES Submission in response to the initial consultation by the Interim Secretariat of the GCF on
observer participation in the proceedings of the Board of the GCF
19 March 2012
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Green Climate Fund Abstract: Press Release by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), 20 October 2011 |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Report of the Transitional Committee for the Design of the Green Climate Fund to the seventeenth session of the Conference of the Parties
TRANSITIONAL COMMITTEE Fourth meeting
18 October 2011
TC-4/3
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: disbursement modalities Abstract: Submission to the Transitional Committee by Ms Carol Mwape (TC member Zambia)on enhanced direct access:
Revised draft language for the draft Instrument of the Green Climate Fund
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Submission to the Transitional Committee on the issue of Thematic Funding Windows (Workstreams II & III)
This submission has two aims. In the first instance, it is to synthesise some of the reasons that have been put forward as to why, at the scale envisaged in the Cancun Agreements, the climate finance regime in general, and the Green Climate Fund, in particular, will have to involve a fundamental devolution of decision making to National Funding Entities (NFEs).
The second aim is to give an idea of what such NFEs might look like by reference to an existing national trust fund −the Bangladeshi Climate Change Resilience Fund − and a recent proposal for a Pakistani National Green Climate Fund
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Standing Committee Abstract: At Cancun, the COP decided to establish a Standing Committee to assist it in exercising its functions with respect to the Financial Mechanism of the Convention. But it left open how exactly this should be done. The ecbi Policy Brief by Farrukh Khan and Benito Müller begins by looking at the COP functions which the Standing Committee is meant to assist considering, in particular, how such assistance could enhance the implementation of the Financial Mechanism. Based on this analysis, the brief puts forward detailed recommendations concerning the functions and the form of the Standing Committee. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Speaking Notes for the ecbi Finance Circle Dinner with Transitional Committee members,
Tokyo, 13 July 2011
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: This submission is based on the experience we have gathered over the past years in following the development of the Adaptation Fund. It is not meant to be a full consideration or discussion of all aspects around the development of the Adaptation Fund, which in our view has made substantial and much appreciated progress over the years. It provides reflections on some key aspects from a civil society point of view and lessons learnt therein that may be relevant to the work of the Transitional Committee and the design of the Green Climate Fund. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Innovative Financing Abstract: Conclusions:
Currently, negotiations at the UN Climate Green Fund are moving very slowly, and hope that major progress will occur before Durban is fading. The German federal government has an extraordinary opportunity to seize the moral and political high ground on global climate finance and policy. Germany can take the first crucial step by transferring its Green Flight Tax revenues into the UN Green Climate Fund, and use the political capital and credibility gained by this first-mover advantage to insist on administrative and accountability measures designed to ensure the monies raised are well spent on technical measures that achieve real results.
Shifting less-developed countries onto a low-carbon development path is a necessary outcome if dangerous climate changes are to be avoided. This outcome is profoundly in the interests of Germany and Europe, yet few developing countries are likely to choose clean-tech over cheaper brown-tech without technical and financial assistance from the industrialised North. Germany is the most financially sound and economically vibrant nation in the industrialised North, and is making increasingly strong commitments to a green-technology transition. Now is the right time for Germany to assert leadership and make the first move in establishing a global climate finance mechanism.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: The role of non-governmental actors
Submission with regard to Work Stream II, Sub-work stream 2
Submitted by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies through the UNFCCC constituency of Research and Independent NGOs
8 June 2011
Conclusions
A key shortcoming of most global funding mechanisms is that the people whose lives are most affected by the funded activities, most often have the least say. The GCF should be willing to rectify this grave and costly omission (the success of the funded activities has suffered as a result), by going back to the design board when defining the role of non-government actors, instead of relying on a faulty template.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Addendum to OIES Submission for First TC Workshop in Bonn, June 2011 |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Submission of views regarding the questions for the first technical workshop of the Transitional Committee suggested by the co-facilitators of work stream I
Submitted through the UNFCCC constituency of Research and Independent NGOs
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: On April 28 and 29, the first meeting of the Transitional Committee (TC) took place in Mexico-City. The TC emerged from the climate summit in Cancún and is tasked to develop the details of the new Green Climate Fund (GCF). The GCF is expected to become the central international instrument to finance the rainforests' and climate's protection as well as to finance adaption to climate change. The main goal is to compile proposals until the next climate summit in Durban in December 2011, which need to be sufficiently comprehensive so that the GCF can be filled with resources and start its work.
This GermanWatch briefing paper elucidates the main background of the TC and the GCF and summarises the most important discussions and decisions taken at the TC's first meeting. An official report on the meeting prepared by the UNFCCC Secretariat is expected to be published soon.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: First Transitional Committee Meeting Abstract: Notes for the address given to 26 Finance Circle and Transitional Committee members by Benito Müller on 28 April 2011. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Ahead of the first meeting of the UNFCCC Green Climate Fund Transitional Committee in Mexico City on April 28-29, 80 international anti-poverty, environmental, labor and human rights organizations launched a set of civil society recommendations to the committee. The groups are calling on the Transitional Committee to:
• Ensure that the Global Climate Fund guarantees civil society and community-level participation—particularly through leaders and institutions accountable to poor people—and that gender equality guide the governance and operations of the Fund.
• Guarantee that secondments come from a wide range of institutions and that the World Bank is not placed as the facilitator, secretariat, or lead institution of either the Transitional Committee or the Green Climate Fund. The board of the Global Climate Fund and its secretariat should be independent of any international financial institution or multilateral development bank, and be accountable to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Warrant that 50 percent of the funding for the Green Climate Fund is dedicated to adaptation, and provided only in the form of grants. Ensure that only clean and efficient energy technologies are funded: fossil fuel-based technologies, nuclear, large hydropower and industrial scale use of plant biomass for liquid or solid fuels must be excluded.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Short-term Innovative Finance Abstract: In this Oxford Energy and Environment, Peter Lockley and Muyeye Chambwera, discuss Airline Passenger Levies as a practical innovative finance option for developed countries to provide the essential start-up funds for the new Global Climate Fund which is meant to be operationalised in December at the next UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Gree Climate Fund Abstract: New Oxford energy and Environment Brief
The Brief discusses what will need to be done in the time up to the next UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa (December 2011), in order to bring the talks on climate finance to a successful conclusion. Khan underlines that the Cancun deal remains fragile and that it is through finance that we can cement it. In particular, the Brief looks at:
(i) what was and what was not accomplished in Cancun;
(ii) the need get clarity on how the Green Climate Fund is to be financed;
(iii) the need to operationalise the Standing Committee on Finance to improve the governance, coherence, and coordination in the delivery of climate finance.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Cancun Analyses Abstract: A bibliography of analyses and other documents relating to COP16/CMP6
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Payment Terms: Loans Abstract: Letter by the Nepal NGO Federation, signed by 12 Nepali NGOs, with regard to the proposal of the Nepali Government to accept a loan from the World Bank PPCR |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: Open letter to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of COP 16 on observer participation in the Transitional Committee |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Cancun Abstract: New Issue of UN NGLS "Roundup"
In conjunction with the panel discussion "Climate Finance: Ethical Considerations for Scale, Sources and Governance" at UNHQ (7 February 2011), UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service released a new issue of its periodic publication Roundup, titled "Achieving Equitable and Effective Climate Finance: Civil Society Perspectives." This Roundup begins with a brief review of Cancún outcomes on climate finance, followed by a variety of civil society reactions to these outcomes. The next section discusses broad political considerations about climate finance sources. The final section, Civil Society Voices, contains articles provided by civil society climate finance experts specifically for this Roundup.
The subjects of the Civil Society Voices articles include:
- The need to take the discussion on sources forward in the UNFCCC and other international fora;
- Examinations of a variety of proposed innovative public sources of finance;
- Issues related to the governance of climate funds;
- A youth perspective on climate finance
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Sources Abstract: This paper examines potential sources of revenues and analyses, which instruments are most compatible with these sources and the climate objectives. Ultimately, the paper provides suggestions for progress in international climate financing after Cancún, towards a 2°C stabilisation pathway.
For short-term progress, starting in 2011, we recommend the following paths of action to the stakeholders in the international community of climate change financing:
• Build on the new pragmatism demonstrated in Cancún and move quickly
• Develop consistent definitions of climate financing flows, investments and incremental costs to derive comparable information on current flows and needs
• Mobilise additional and redirect existing public resources for efficient and effective mitigation and adaptation on a 2°C stabilisation pathway
• Use limited public resources efficiently as well as carbon markets in order to leverage private sector green investments
• Use a mix of financial support instruments to share costs and risks of projects and programmes between public and private sector in industrialised and developing countries
• Build on existing experience, coordinate existing and new implementation channels
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Transitional Committee Abstract: The Brief, based on lessons learned particularly from the process of establishing the Global Fund, puts forward five organizational elements for the work of the Transitional Committee
• Mutually respected leadership
• Specific drafting groups and clusters of work
• Broad expertise and skills to support the TC
• Active observer input to harness additional expertise
• Broad regional and stakeholder consultations to increase support
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: This Oxford Energy and Environment Brief identifies some of the main elements of the climate finance debate in the run up to COP.17 in Durban, South Africa in December 2011.
It is first of all argued that all relevant sectors ought to be actively involved in the design process of the new Green Climate Fund.
With regards to the issue of sources, the Brief then argues that the new fund will only be viable in the context of significant start-up funding and it identifies the Leading Group solidarity levy as existing innovative source of international funding to do this.
Finally, the Brief considers the issue of operationalising the new Standing Committee to support the governance of the UNFCCC financial mechanism. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Follow up on Cancun FC meeting Abstract: Dear friends,
Not being tied to the strictures of negotiations, I thought it would be useful to set out the ideas behind the TEP proposal in a one pager before tomorrows meeting (so I will not have to talk that much!)
all the best
Benito |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Follow up on Cancun FC meeting Abstract: Yesterday’s ecbi Finance Circle took place in the offices of the EU Presidency (thanks again for having made it possible to meet in the Conference venue!) with an impressive list of delegations: US (4 people), Germany (3), Australia, Belgium/EU Presidency, Canada, Ecuador, European Commission, Netherlands, Mexico, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, UAE, UK (1 each) [please let me know if I left anyone out]
What was personally speaking concerning was the geographical imbalance among the participants, for it does preclude what was meant to be the main purpose of these meetings, namely trust building. The following remarks are not minutes, but simply reflections based on my personal impressions from the meeting. They are meant to give those who could not attend an idea of what was discussed, and hopefully generate some further discussion/feed-back.
The main discussion topic was the idea of a Transitional Expert Panel based on the ideas published in “In the Footsteps of the Global Fund” in Outreach (http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/outreach/index.php/day2-item1). I was surprised at the level of interest in the idea, which was reflected in a quite detailed discussion. What I found interesting was that the idea of having a (legitimate) representation of the COP – i.e. essentially the Ad Hoc Committee – as part of the TEP did not appear to be controversial. Also, the idea of having Kofi Annan chair the proposed TEP was seen to be something that might be worth pursuing. (Indeed, in my conversations in the corridors, this was one of the features of the proposal that created the most interest with practically everybody I talked to.). In short, the TEP proposal was generally well received.
Having said this, it has to be kept in mind that we hardly touched what I consider to be the two crunch issues with regard to the process of establishing the new fund, namely who would ultimately approve the draft documents produced by the TEP, and who would be appointing the members of the Board of the new fund. As concerns the latter, I believe the most productive way forward here in Cancun would be for the COP to decide on the general composition of the Board (i.e. regionally balanced, etc.) in the TOR for the TEP, and to let the TEP draft a proposal on the actual process of appointing Board members (given these general parameters)
The two issues where there was a more disagreement were that of oversight over the financial mechanism, and the issue of identifying sources of funding for the new fund.
Beginning with the latter, there was a debate whether innovative sources of finance, such as the LDC Group International Air Passenger Adaptation Levy (IAPAL) would be an infringement of the sovereign right of countries to taxation. I tried to argue that this need not necessarily be the case, as exemplified in the CDM adaptation levy. However, the meeting did end with a general recognition that it would be desirable to avail the fund with a significant start-up amount, if it is indeed to ‘prove itself to contributors as a vehicle which they want to use’.
As to the enhanced oversight over the financial mechanism, there was disagreement on whether there was really a need for a Standing Committee on Finance. I did put forward my arguments but I doubt whether they were felt to be convincing by everybody. However, I did express my opinion that the issue of enhanced oversight in general, and of a Standing Committee, in particular, is very important to many developing countries and that one should be very weary of trying to establish a new fund without establishing the Standing Committee.
It would be good if those of you who have attended give their own account of the meeting, and if those who did not would give us their view in reply.
All the best
Benito
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: Luis Gomez-Echeverri argues that climate change finance can draw lessons from aid effectiveness, but only up to a point. Climate finance, he argues, is unique and in many ways more complex than ODA (including those targeted by vertical funds) because of the demands in some cases to measure and report performance, the basis of which is complex and uncertain, and often requiring skills and competencies that are new for most countries, both developed and developing. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: While consensus on establishing a new multilateral climate fund is emerging, there are a number of as yet unresolved issues concerning how this should be done. One of themis the question: who exactly should be drafting the documents required for establishing such a fund? Benito Müller and Achala Chandani are proposing a Transitional Expert Panel as a compromise between the different positions currently put forward in the UNFCCC finance negotiations. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: This ecbi Policy Brief by Benito Müller looks at whether the progress and momentum of the LCA finance negotiations in Tianjin could be harnessed to bring about a successful outcome at Cancun, and what that would be. It envisages a decision to design an agreed voluntary reporting framework for fast start funding. A successful outcome for longer-term finance, it is suggested, would be a package of decisions to operationalise the new Global Climate Fund and the new Standing Committee on Finance, together with a decision to agree on a medium term revenue schedule for the new fund for 2012-2020. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: New ecbi Policy Report on staffing requirements for managing climate finance
David Ciplet, Benito Müller, and J. Timmons Roberts address the question of whether it is possible to give some estimate of how many people it would need to manage the sorts of sums currently talked about with regards to longer-term climate finance. The paper does not aim to establish a universal correlation of staff per unit of funding but simply a lower-bound estimate. It concludes that given the current funding portfolios and management activities (in ODA), it takes at least 250 people to manage $1billion. This conservative estimate simply reflects the fact that managing funds properly requires people. The key message of the paper is that the only way to do so effectively, efficiently, and at scale is to delegate as much as possible to recipient countries.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: New ecbi Policy Report on National Funding Entities
Luis Gomez-Echeverri presents a new report on National Funding Entities (NFEs) in the lead-up to Cancun this December. National Funding Entities have sprung up in twelve countries, with more currently in the pipeline, to push forward climate change action, capture and manage funding from international and national sources, and guarantee that all actions are mainstreamed into existing development strategies. These new institutions have been built in different forms with a diverse range of objectives, funding and governance strategies; but all provide experience and lessons for countries seeking to establish their own. This Policy Report provides background information on these NFEs to inform the negotiations. It is part of a series of ecbi and OIES publications on the Reformed Finance Mechanism, most specifically on the case for devolution of funding decisions to the national level.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: Legal opinion on the following questions:
(a)Constitutional Authority of the COP:
(i)Does the COP at present have the authority to establish the SFC and are there any legal constraints in this regard?
(ii)What would establishing the SFC entail from a legal perspective?
(b)Interaction with other Subsidiary Bodies:
(i)What are the implications with respect to interactions between the SFC and other UNFCCC bodies?
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Library Contribution Abstract: |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Library contribution Abstract: |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Geneva Dialogue on Climate Finance Abstract: "The Geneva Dialogue on Climate Finance took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2 to 3 September 2010. At the invitation of Switzerland and Mexico, a group of ministers and government representatives from 46 countries and the European Union, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (AWG-LCA) and the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in an informal setting to discuss current themes related to finance in the ongoing UN climate negotiations. The issues discussed included finance architecture, the new climate fund, private sector’s role and sources of long-term finance." |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: "One of the key demands of developing countries in the negotiations that this paper aims to discuss is the provision of ‘Direct Access’ (DA) to climate finance. While there appears to be increasing momentum behind DA, there has been little opportunity to explore the modality within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations and so understanding of the concept is limited. CIDSE and Caritas Internationalis have commissioned this paper to examine the DA modality in more detail, and to explore both its merits and its challenges. Using the examples of existing funds that have adopted the modality, the paper seeks to explain the concept of DA for stakeholders, and offers recommendations for its further elaboration and use." |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: Country Position Abstract: Remarks by US Special Envoy for Climate Change at the Geneva Dialogue on Climate Finance, 3 September 2010. |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: |
Title: New FSF website
Author: Press Releaseg, Geneva 3 Sept 2010.Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Patrick on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: Dutch Environment Minister Huizinga launches new climate finance website:
www.faststartfinance.org |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: The 2010 ecbi Fellowships (25 -31 August)put forward some ideas conserning a COP Finance Committee, and the governence of the New Climate Fund, which is attached (for more on the Fellowships, visit www.EuroCapacity.org) |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: The attached 2-pager contains some thoughts on governance, and in particlar on 'political functions' that were triggered by the discussion during the thrid meeting of the Finance Circle |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: please find enclosed a comment on financial architecture by ActionAid India |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: governance Abstract: A response to the US intervention by a number of NGOs -- led by FOE US -- has been uploaded to the Document Library |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: public v.private sector funding Abstract: |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: sb32 Abstract: |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: disbursement modalities Abstract: As concerns governance and architecture, the recent LCA Chair’s text (FCCC/AWGLCA/2010/6) has essentially adopted the language of the draft decision prepared by her predecessor at Copenhagen, with the exception of renaming the ‘Climate Fund/Facility’ as ‘Copenhagen Green Climate Fund’ The key architectural element that was and hence still is missing, in my mind, is a reference to devolved decision making through national funding entities (as mentioned in my first contribution on ‘delivery of finance’).
As concerns the international architecture, another (related) element that is not mentioned is who would be in charge of (i) setting up the rules and modalities for disbursing funds to these national entities, and (ii) who would be in charge of managing/operating these disbursements.
Initially, our thinking was that it might be better to have both these functions completely separated from what we referred to as the ‘(traditional) international funding’ which meant to have the CGCF as an international funding entity, and the Climate Facility as disbursement instrument directly under the Finance Board (without an additional Board).
However, as long as the setting of the disbursement rules are kept with the Finance Board, then it might be possible to have the management of the disbursement done by the CGCF.
Having said this, I still think it is problematic to introduce a new international funding entity with separate windows, because it simply creates more duplications with the existing funding entities, such as the GEF, the World Bank, and the Adaptation Fund.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: Short excerpt of the RFM2 Report explaining the 'problem of administrative size' |
Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: delivery of finance Abstract: Two key functions of any international climate finance regime are ensuring (i) sufficient distributive justice concerning not only the sharing of payment obligations but also of payment entitlements, and (ii) that there is no unacceptable imbalance in payments for the different thematic purposes (mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer, etc.).
This requires a degree of consolidation of international funding streams, in the same way in which it is not possible to achieve similar ends domestically without a central fiscal budget (consolidated fund). ‘Consolidation’, however, must not be confused with centralization, in particular if the latter is interpreted as referring to funding decisions in the sense of decisions needed to approve activities (projects/programmes).
International funding streams can be consolidated without centralizing funding decisions, by devolving these funding decisions to the (recipient) country level, as envisaged not only in the RFM proposal (see below) but also in proposals put forward by India or the UK. There are at least two important arguments for devolution.
(i) It has been estimated that the management of funding decisions (call for, evaluation of, approval of, monitoring of activities) for the envisaged sort of annual throughput (£50 billion p.a.) would take between 10 and 25 thousand administrative personnel, and it is doubtful whether one would wish to have them as part of a centralized international institution, whether existing or new.
(ii) One of the mantras of climate change finance for developing countries is that it needs to be ‘mainstreamed’ into developing country policies: It stands to reason that this is more likely to happen if the relevant policy makers are actually involved in the funding decisions.
In short, there are good reasons for arguing that the international climate finance system must have a significant degree of consolidation of international financial flows coupled with a devolution of funding decision to the recipients. But it would be unrealistic to think that there would not continue to be fragmented (bilateral) funding activities, which require some specific management tools, usually referred to in terms of ‘coordination’ and ‘verification.’ The next section discussed a proposal which would accommodate all of these features.
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Publisher: Year: Contributed on by Benito on the topic: First ecbiFC meeting Abstract: The first meeting of the ecbi Finance Circle was held in the Hotel Maritim on 9 April 2010 |
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