earth science

High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing

High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing rather than just read about it. In short: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF) on 12 February 2010 for the duration of ten months. The group's aim was to "study potential sources of revenue that will enable achievement of the level of climate change financing that was promised during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009." Composition The…

Key takeaways

High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon established a High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing (AGF) on 12 February 2010 for the duration of ten months. The group's aim was to "study potential sources of revenue that will enable achievement of the level of climate change financing that was promised during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009."

Composition The group was co-chaired by Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway, Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo was the third head of state on the board, but was not a co-chair. Members included experts from developed countries, developing countries, and from international development organizations and the academic world. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown co-chaired with Zenawi from the group's formation in February 2010 to 6 June 2010, when he was replaced by Stoltenberg. The group's mandate was to develop practical proposals on how to significantly scale-up long-term financing for mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries from various public as well as private sources.

Report The High-Level Advisory Group released its final report on 5 November 2010, just ahead of the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico. The report concluded that it is "challenging but feasible" to reach the goal of mobilizing US$100 billion annually for climate actions in developing countries by 2020. The AGF Report examined various approaches, including existing and new public funding and increased private flows. Its definition of “public” finance includes “direct budget contributions” as one strand, with five others envisaging finance from carbon market auction revenues; revenue from international transport (shipping and airline taxes); carbon taxation; multilateral funds (most notably, IMF Special Drawing Rights); and an international financial transaction tax. Two work streams considering private finance will cover “using public finance to leverage private investment/finance” (including debt swaps and insurance schemes) and carbon markets (which includes CDM reform and sectoral proposals). In addition to the main report, they published eight different work streams paper, providing technical information and analysis for each finance source. Although the AGF Report did not build a blueprint for implementing these sources, it does assess all sources based on eight criteria, which includes revenue, efficiency (carbon efficiency - the impact of a method on setting a price for carbon externality and overall efficiency - taking into account impacts on developed country growth and risks, equity (distribution of revenue), incidence (who really pays for the climate change mitigation and adaptation actions - should avoid payment by developing countries or inclusion of developing countries’ contribution in counting towards 100billion, practicality (feasibility before 2020), reliability, additionality to Official Development Assistance and acceptability (domestic political acceptability in both developed and developing countries).

Criticism Critics claimed that the group could contribute to the downgrading of UNFCCC negotiations, as well as complaining of a lack of transparency and a significant gender bias. Also, some civil society organizations do not agree that US 100 billion per year is sufficient for climate change financing, but overall, NGOs are content with the pressure on developed countries brought by the AGF report.

Response The United States government rejected all new innovative sources at international scale proposed in the AGF report, namely, Financial Transaction Tax (FTTs), Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), and Bunker Fuels in the Maritime and Aviation Sector. Although the cap-and-trade bill was rejected at the Congress in 2010, the U.S. government still considers a carbon market as the more viable way to finance climate change activities. The European Union in general favors innovative sources. With the fate of the Kyoto Protocol undetermined beyond 2012, the EU has limited offset projects in Least Developed Countries. Under the G20 leadership of the French presidency, the EU considered a Financial Transaction Tax at the European Union level, and channel the revenue for climate, health, education and other international development purposes. A detailed report was published stating European Commission's response to the AGF report. Although "takes note" is relatively weak wording, the report was referenced in all submissions to the UNFCCC regarding climate finance, especially innovative sources. Outside the UNFCCC system, the AGF report is extensively referenced in climate financing discussions at the G20, European Union, International Maritime Organization, and other international forums. As many other potential financing sources, accessing any new sources will require political will. Efforts have been made under the G20 to remove fossil fuel subsidies, but they were not successful once again at the recent G20 meeting in Seoul. Similar to the AGF report, there are many high-profile reports; addressing climate finance sources with a focus on innovative sources. The international community is making critical decisions on how to mobilize up to US$100 billion per year by 2020 based on recommendations in these reports.

See also Economics of global warming Stern Review

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing

In research: High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Carbon finance, Economics and climate change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing in simple terms?

Why does High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing.