Climate Fund Info

THIS PAGE IS OUT OF DATE - TO BE UPDATED SOON

Developments in the European Union:

On 10 September 2009, the EU Commission finally presented its basic views on climate finance and related issues. All the documents can be found here. It should be noted, however, that these proposals do not become the EU's official positions until the Council and the European Parliament have formulated their opinions on them.

The July 2009 G8 Summit that took place in L'Aquila, Italy resulted in a rather lame declaration by the Major Economies Forum. Many parties noted that the meeting was basically a "missed opportunity", not least the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. 

At the end of June, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown fired the starting shot for a serious discussion on climate finance by delivering a "Road to Copenhagen" speech. The speech can be found here and the press release and video here. The speech was duly noted by the media (one example is here), but there was very little follow-up on it.

Mar. 2009 - The European Union Commission presented a set of proposals for the EU's contribution to shaping the future global climate change regime. The proposals are discussed in the Environmental Council on March 2 (see conclusions) and in the ECOFIN Council on March 10. The European Council of March 19-20 agreed on a set of conclusions on climate negotiations and The European Parliament has also contributed through an own-initiative report.

The EU's position has been criticized for its lack of clarity in financial terms.  The conclusions say only that the EU "will take on its fair share of financing such actions in developing countries." Any attempts to mention actual figures were disregarded during the EU's internal negotiations, which does not bode well for future negotiations on the international stage.

Developments in the United States:

Jul. 2009 - State Secretary Clinton visits India and discusses climate change with not very encouraging results. Later, the US also signs a memorandum of understanding with China on climate and energy. This MoU can be found here and associated documents here and here. This was naturally hailed as a major step by both parties involved, but it remains to be seen whether it has any real meaning for the Copenhagen process.

In August, a similar MoU was signed by the countries of North America. At that time, the confidence of Mexico regarding it's Green Fund proposal seemed to be on the rise.

Mar. 2009 - The difficulties in securing a negotiation position from the US Congress are coming increasingly to the fore. See for example this article.

Feb. 2009 - State Secretary Clinton visits China with climate change at the top of the agenda. See official reports and NYTimes coverage.