Climate Finance

Loss and damage is when climate change goes beyond what it is possible to adapt to such as typhoons or frequent droughts. The Paris Agreement made progress on those issues. COP22 in Marrakesh should now clarify the question of loss and damage finance.

The Carbon Levy Project is working to introduce a global fossil fuel extraction levy to ensure that the people facing the worst impacts of climate change are compensated by those that caused the problem. In Paris, the Carbon Levy Declaration has been signed by many supporters from around the world, among them Barbara Unmüßig.

Globally, political leaders are lauding the acceptance of the global and legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change at COP21 as a historical moment. It achieves a goal long believed unattainable. However, judged against the enormity of the challenge and the needs and pressure from people on the ground demanding a global deal anchored in climate justice, the Paris Agreement can only be called a disappointment.

Digging mines, building power plants and providing infrastructure cost billions. Many countries cannot afford the investments; credit agencies and multilateral and private banks are glad to step in.

Successful climate policies mean that coal is becoming a less valuable resource. This affects the companies that dig it up. A chapter from the Coal Atlas.

The Green Climate Fund, striving to be fully operational by the Paris climate summit in December, missed its "effectiveness date" at the end of April, an important deadline giving the Fund the authority to begin making funding commitments.

Fossil fuel producers (the “Carbon Majors”) should pay for the loss and damage their product is causing on poor communities via a levy to the International Mechanism for Loss and Damage.

Ten billion US Dollars: One figure will be enough to judge the success of the first ever pledging conference for the Green Climate Fund on Thursday, November 20th in Berlin. Though, equally important will be in what form and how soon the pledge reaches the trust fund as an actual payment.

Only 90 companies worldwide are responsible for 63 percent of carbon emissions in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. These climate offenders must be held accountable for their role in global warming, according to the "Carbon Majors Funding Loss and Damage" report, published today by the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Climate Justice Programme.

The expert symposium "Financing the Green Transformation" (May 5th, 2014) discussed how financial markets and investment practices could be transformed into more stable and sustainable systems. This documentation sums up the most important findings.

While Africa has contributed the least to historic greenhouse gas emissions globally, it stands to be the hardest hit by the effects of climate change. Africa will require substantial financial resources in order to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. At this year’s Climate Change Conference in Durban, climate finance is expected to feature prominently.

In cooperation with ODI, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung is offering a new series of short introductory briefing on various aspects of climate financing. Called “Climate Finance Fundamentals” the short briefs, which include tables and graphs, are meant for those readers new to the debate on global climate change financing and its myriads of facets and needing a quick overview. 

When the dust settled after the near failure of the UNFCCC climate talks in Copenhagen, the issue of climate finance seemed strangely to have been one of the few areas, where despite all procedural and political misgivings, real progress was made. 

The global energy system is undergoing a structural crisis. At its heart lies the need to restrain climatic change while at the same time dealing with energy security in an era of rapidly growing demand.