climate finance

The shipping industry can do more to tackle climate change and raise billions of dollars to help poor countries cope with its devastating impact. A major meeting of the IMO – the international shipping regulators – is starting in London today.

Oxfam welcomed the launch of a new website by the Dutch Minister of the Environment today (faststartfinance.org) which aims to collect and present details about climate finance pledges from developed countries.

Progress achieved during the past two weeks at Bonn will come to nothing if developed countries don’t scale up their ambition. The mood has been more constructive but the disagreements that derailed the Copenhagen talks are still to be resolved.

Oxfam has today warned that the $100billion a year pledged by rich nations to help fight climate change could fail the poorest people, if recent moves to deliver climate cash as loans continue.

Climate change is the single greatest threat to development – making the battle to overcome poverty ever harder and more expensive.

The European Union is failing to give full details about its €7.2 billion pledge for immediate climate finance needs in developing countries. By not being fully transparent, the EU is undermining trust with developing countries.

The fact that the IMF is proposing that adaptation efforts are funded by grants rather than loans is positive. But this will only work if developed countries ensure the money is there to resource this vital assistance to vulnerable countries.

Oxfam welcomes the new European Commission proposals for advancing climate talks. However, while the EC has highlighted emissions reduction loopholes in the Copenhagen Accord, it has ignored major loopholes on climate finance.

A High Level Panel to explore new ways of raising $100 billion a year to help poor countries adapt climate change and reduce their emissions was launched by the prime ministers of the UK and Ethiopia and the UN Secretary General today.

Oxfam called on the US to join Europe in laying its climate finance cards on the table as international climate talks opened in Barcelona today.