8 April 2011: The European Commission has released a staff working document on “Scaling up international climate finance after 2012,” confirming that raising US$100 billion per year by 2020 is “challenging but feasible” with the right mix of public funding, funding from international carbon markets, as well as private funds, partly leveraged by development banks.

Based on the report by the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing, the staff working document indicates that the carbon market can deliver a substantial contribution if, in addition to improvements in the existing Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), sectoral carbon market mechanisms are introduced. The document also emphasizes the need for maximum coherence in the implementation of climate finance in developing countries and development aid.

The document also examines how to ensure that funds raised and channeled to developing countries can be spent within a sound and effective governance framework. This is expected to be based on strong international and European coordination, and include fair international burden-sharing among developed countries and the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of financial flows. [EU Press Release] [Staff Working Document]