23 November 2010: An informal meeting of the plenary of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) took place at UN Headquarters in New York, US, on 23 November 2010, to hear a briefing by Daniele Violetti, Coordinator of the Secretariat for the Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, on the Group’s final report.

Violetti introduced the report, explaining that it provides an overview of new and innovative funding mechanisms to reach the “challenging but feasible” goal of mobilizing US$100 billion annually for climate actions in developing countries by 2020. Emphasizing that public and private financial sources are required to reach this goal, he stressed that the Group’s role is to identify mechanisms, rather than create a formula by combining them. He further explained that the Group was required to make assumptions on future carbon prices to assess financial instruments’ ability to generate the specified amount under different scenarios, noting that if the price of carbon doubled, revenues would be multiplied accordingly.

In the ensuing discussion, repesentatives from developing countries raised concerns regarding, among others, international transportation levies. Violetti underscored the complexity of these topics and said they require further work. He emphasized that resources generated for any finance mechanism should not burden developing countries. One speaker questioned the report’s authority, and noted that Advisory Group members agreed by consensus to the final report and no follow-up activities were presented. Recognizing the existence of different views, Violetti underlined that the Group had a limited amount of time to complete the report, and reiterated its mandate to identify and assess financial mechanisms. [IISD RS Sources] [Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing Website] [The Report] [Climate Change Policy & Practice Story on the Release of the Report]