31 March 2010: The High-level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing met on 31 March 2010, in London, UK, to begin discussions on the climate change financing promised during the 15th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the UNFCCC, in December 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The Advisory Group comprises 19 members appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and is co-chaired by Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister, and Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister. Additional members of the High-level Advisory Group, which was launched on 12 February, include Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana, Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway, US President Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers, and financier George Soros. Christine Lagarde, Minister of the Economy, Industry and Employment, France, has replaced Jean-Pierre Landau, Second Deputy Governor, Bank of France, who was originally announced as a member of the Group.
The Group is considering several options, including a tax on international financial transactions, a levy on global aviation and shipping and schemes that would raise money from auctioning off “permits” to emit greenhouse gases. The Group is expected to issue its initial outputs before the UNFCCC negotiating session to be held from 31 May-11 June 2010, in Bonn, Germany. The final report will be submitted to the Secretary-General and to the current (Denmark) and next (Mexico) COP Presidents of the UNFCCC by November 2010. [High-Level Advisory Group Website] [UK Mission to the UN Press Release]