Financial Transparency Coalition

The New York Times is reporting that the US Treasury has determined that developing countries need a lot more money to cope with global climate change – but the Treasury doesn’t know where to find the money.  The Treasury department is expected to present their findings in a paper to the G-20 in Pittsburg.  From the NYT:

The paper (pdf), to be presented along with two others when G-20 leaders meet in Pittsburgh this month, calls for public financial flows “to be increased significantly beyond existing levels, starting in the near term with an expectation of continued and substantial growth in the future.” But the 13-page report makes no attempt to pinpoint how much the money the world will need to raise.

Climate negotiations are getting down to the wire, with 16 negotiating days left before countries meet in Copenhagen to hammer out a new global emissions treaty. Developing nations have long considered funding to help them adapt to climate change and lower their own emissions trajectory critical to any international pact, and have voiced impatience with the lack of specificity in current talks.

But State Department envoy Todd Stern, speaking after a House hearing yesterday on the Copenhagen talks, said there is as yet no timeline for presenting dollar figures.

“I don’t have an exact date yet,” Stern said. “There are discussions about amounts, but I don’t think there is anything that has been put forward.”

I have an idea about where they could find the money…