March 2013

Finance is a key tool to advance climate policy. The gap between commitments made by the developed world for the fight against climate change and for poverty reduction and the effective level of financing ranges between 300 and 320 billion annually for the 2013-2020 period. The International Trade Union Federation presented, at the Doha climate-change conference of November-December 2012, a number of proposals on how to fill this gap and go even further. It believes, among others, that given the sizable need for grant-based financing, international funding of climate mitigation and adaptation policies must be broadened and supported by new sources of financing, both nationally and globally. Institutional investors must come on board alongside public financing. Pension funds, with which trade unions have a special relationship, are pointed to as possible contributors. Other courses of action include: stepping up carbon-related taxation; broadening the tax base beyond carbon taxation; and setting up a global financial-transactions tax.