Rich countries must acknowledge that the climate funds are compensation, paying off their climate debt, not aid.

No global estimate can ever be one-hundred per cent precise. But enough research has been done to suggest that the annual cost of tackling climate change in developing countries by 2020 is going to be at least US$200 billion, over and above existing commitments on development finance, such as the long-standing commitment for rich countries to give 0.7 of their Gross National Income as aid.

A more detailed analysis of climate finance and rich countries' historical responsibility can be found in our report Rich countries' Climate Debt and how they can repay it, an ActionAid rough guide (PDF)

Mitigation (implementing measures to reduce emissions): US$100 billion

• In order to meet that long-term goal global emissions need to be reduced by 80% (against 1990 levels) by 2050.
• Rich countries bear the greatest historical responsibility for climate change through their excessive emissions of greenhouse gases. They should reduce their emissions by at least 40% (against 1990 levels) by 2020 and by at least 90% by 2050.
• But further to this: rich countries must support developing countries in reducing their emissions with finance and clean technology.

Money spent on mitigation could be used to reduce a country’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy for electricity generation, support low-emission agriculture and combat deforestation.


Adaptation (adapting to the effects of climate change): US$100 billion

• Many countries, particularly the world’s poorest, are already experiencing impacts of climate change. They will only be able to adapt through provision of finance and clean technology by rich countries.
• Where it is not possible for communities to adapt, they must be supported to relocate.

Adaptation funds would be used to include building or improving flood defences, improving water storage facilities, or helping particularly vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers to diversify their crops.

We believe that given that adaptation costs for almost every developing country are incurred as a result of the actions of rich countries, it is only fair that rich countries meet those costs in full.

Who should manage the money?

Funds must be channelled through a body that is both democratic and transparent. Institutional arrangements where the World Bank is the administrator of climate funds is unacceptable given its undemocratic structure and continued role in supporting and financing carbon heavy investments.

Any global deal on targets for mitigation and adaptation will be agreed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is therefore logical that the climate finance needed to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and to enable them to adapt is channelled to them through an institution fully accountable to and under the control of the UNFCCC.

ActionAid is concerned by the recent leaked documents that suggest that the Danish government is now undermining the UNFCCC's role in creating an independant Global Climate Fund and appears to be falling in line with other developed countries calling for the World Bank to handle climate finance. Find out more about this development

• More on Copenhagen
• Climate Change: The facts from around the world and the effects that it has on real lives now
• Rich countries' Climate Debt and how they can repay it, an ActionAid rough guide (PDF)