International Relations

1 Items

A Chinese resident looks at a solar panel in a residential area in Nanjing, Dec. 1, 2009. Solar energy supplies heating and hot water to as many as 150 million Chinese.

AP Photo

Policy Brief - Harvard Project on Climate Agreements, Belfer Center

Climate Finance: Key Concepts and Ways Forward

    Authors:
  • Richard B. Stewart
  • Benedict Kingsbury
  • Bryce Rudyk
| December 2, 2009

Climate finance is fundamental to curbing anthropogenic climate change. Compared, however, to the negotiations over emissions reduction timetables, commitments, and architectures, climate finance issues have received only limited and belated attention. Assuring delivery and appropriate use of the financial resources needed to achieve emissions reductions and secure adaptation to climate change, particularly in developing countries, is as vital as agreement on emission caps. Yet, a comprehensive framework on financing for mitigation and adaptation is not in sight. Developed and developing countries cannot agree on even the fundamentals of what should be included (e.g. should private finance through carbon markets be included?), let alone the level and terms of financing commitments, regulatory and other mechanisms, or governance structures.