UNO General Assembly: Moritz Leuenberger presents a Swiss proposal for financing climate-change adaptation
Bern, 24.09.2008 - Federal councillor Moritz Leuenberger presented a Swiss proposal for financing measures for adaptation to climate change on 24 September in New York. He met with ministers from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Bangladesh on the occasion of the 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations. Switzerland’s proposal aroused significant interest among the ministers present.
The presentation was made in the context of a forum of the countries which are exploring possible approaches for financing climate measures at global level. According to the World Bank, the adaptation measures alone will cost between USD 10 and 40 billion per year. During a meeting, which was open to the press, Mr Leuenberger presented the finance mechanism developed by Switzerland to the ministers from Great Britain, the Netherlands and Bangladesh. The primary aim of this mechanism is to guarantee that the poorest countries will be able to finance national prevention and adaptation measures for dealing with climate change.
Switzerland proposed that the states would pay a levy on their CO2 emissions. This levy would be differentiated on the basis of their level of development. The mechanism would raise USD 48.5 billion per year.
Each state would have a volume of 1.5 tonnes of CO2 emissions per inhabitant that would be exempt from the levy. This threshold corresponds to the total volume of emissions that must not be exceeded at global level from now until the end of the century if we are to avoid a dangerous deterioration in the climate system. Developing countries with annual greenhouse gas emissions of less than 1.5 tonnes of CO2 per inhabitant will not have to pay any levy at all as their per-capita emissions are below the threshold.
Each country would be allowed to retain part of the revenue from the levy for the implementation of national national climate measures. The size of the share retained by the countries will also depend on their level of development: poorer countries would be allowed to retain a larger share than developed countries. Another part of the revenue would be paid into a global adaptation fund exclusively earmarked for countries with low or average incomes.
This proposal is among the options that will be examined until the end of 2009 in the context of the negotiations on the future international climate regime. It was approved by the Swiss Federal Council in July 2008.
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