12 February 2010: During a press conference held on 12 February 2010, at UN Headquarters in New York, US, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched aHigh-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing. The Group will seek to mobilize the financial resources for climate change that were pledged at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
Ban was joined via video-link by Prime Ministers Gordon Brown (UK) and Meles Zenawi (Ethiopia), who will co-chair the Group. Other members will include Heads of States and Government, high-level officials from Ministries and Central Banks, as well as experts on public finance, development and related issues, who will serve in their personal capacities for 10 months. He indicated that there would be an even balance between developing and developed countries.
The Group’s objectives include developing practical proposals to significantly scale-up both short-term and long-term financing for mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries, in particular by jump-starting the mobilization of new and innovative resources to reach US$100 billion annually by 2020, as provided in the Copenhagen Accord. Ban said the Advisory Group would prepare early outputs by the May/June UNFCCC meetings, with final recommendations to be issued before the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties in Mexico.
In closing, he stressed the importance of rapid action and the need to “release money for immediate adaptation and mitigation efforts in developing countries, especially for the most vulnerable.” [UN Secretary-General’s Statement] [UN Press Release] [UN News Briefing]