Global Climate Finance

The Global Climate Finance Project is a joint venture of NYU Law's Institute for International Law and Justice and the Frank J. Guarini Center for Environmental and Land Use Law. The project focuses on the design of climate finance mechanisms and the institutions and governance mechanisms required to ensure that the decentralized climate finance system functions effectively. The regime must not only mobilize needed resources and ensure efficient and effective use of these resources for climate protection and low carbon development, but also build mutual trust and confidence through broadly acceptable and effective governance arrangements. The project draws on the expertise of NYU Law faculty in climate change, environmental law, development finance, international trade and investment, international transaction taxation and tax policy generally, global institutions, and global regulatory governance. It is closely linked to both the IILJ's Global Administrative Law project and the IILJ Financing Development program.

EVENTS ~ PUBLICATIONS ~ NEWS ~ ABOUT US ~ CONTACT US

Events:

Panel Discussion with Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing: On 11 April 2011, the Embassy of France, the Environmental Defense Fund and NYU School of Law hosted a high level panel with Nathalie Kosciusko Morizet, "From Fast-Start to Long-Term Finance for Climate Protection: The Need for New Funding Sources." See full report.

NYU Law holds climate finance workshop in Abu Dhabi: Professor Richard Stewart recently spoke at the Abu Dhabi World Future Energy Summit on the legal and institutional challenges of delivering $100 billion annually to developing countries for climate mitigation and adaptation. Following the Summit, NYU Law’s Global Climate Finance Project convened a two-day climate finance conference at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus. See full report.

NYU co-sponsors side event at COP16 in Cancun: On 1 December 2010, NYU Law, together with the Tuck School of Business from Dartmouth College conducted a side event on “Institutions and Governance Mechanisms for Climate Finance” at the 16th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC in Cancun. See full report.

NYU hosts Consultative Workshop on Climate Finance with Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, September 23, 2010: On September 23, 2010, the Global Climate Finance Project at NYU Law hosted a consultative workshop on climate finance with Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action. The Commissioner discussed issues relating to climate finance with a group of NYU Professors and Fellows, as well as colleagues from Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Environmental Defense Fund, the Peterson Institute for Economics, the World Resources Institute and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. See full report.

NYU co-sponsored events at Copenhagen climate conference: Dec 07 – 18, 2009, Copenhagen
Conference Flier & Program

Book launch: As a part of the inauguration of the new NYU Straus Institute, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and UN Global Compact Executive Director Georg Kell participated. December 3rd, 2009

Penny Wong, Australian Minister for Climate Change and Water visits NYU Law, September 21, 2009: The Honorable Penny Wong, Senator for South Australia and Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Water visited NYU Law on September 21, 2009 to discuss the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The event, hosted by the Frank J. Guarini Center on Environmental and Land Use Law and the Environmental Law Society, gave students and faculty a chance to hear first hand Australia's plan for an international political agreement to fight climate change. See full report.

Abu Dhabi Conference on Climate Change: Financing Green Development, May 3-5, 2009

NYU Law School held a conference in Abu Dhabi May 3-5, 2009 on Climate Change: Financing Green Development. The conference, held with the support of the Abu Dhabi government, addressed the legal and regulatory elements of carbon markets, climate finance, and climate-related investment in developing countries. The issues for discussion included market-based climate regulatory programs, the design, governance and linkage of carbon markets, climate-related conditions on various forms of development finance, international trade and investment law governing domestic climate regulation including of emissions trading and climate assets, and tax and distributional issues.

Conference participants included leading representatives of the climate finance industry, carbon market regulators, developing countries, multinational businesses, sovereign wealth funds, international organizations, and NGOs as well as academic experts. NYU faculty, other academics, regulators, and expert practitioners presented papers on key legal, regulatory, and policy issues associated with climate finance and development in order to frame discussion and debate among all participants.

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Publications:

Books

Climate Finance: Regulatory and Funding Strategies for Climate Change and Global Development
Edited by Richard B. Stewart, Benedict Kingsbury and Bryce Rudyk
NYU Press (September 2009). pp 348

Contents:

Full Book (PDF, 3.1 Mb)

Cover (Front & Back) (PDF, 280 Kb)

Front matter (PDF, 119 Kb)

Section I: Climate Change and Mitigation (PDF, 641 Kb)

Section II: Proposals for Climate Finance (PDF, 929 Kb)

Section III: Bringing Developed and Developing Countries Together in Climate Finance Bargains (PDF, 360 Kb)

Section IV: National Policies (PDF, 243 Kb)

Section V Climate Finance and World Trade Organization (WTO) Law and Policy (PDF, 520 Kb)

Section VI: Taxation of Carbon Markets (PDF, 247 Kb)

Abbreviations and Index (PDF, 52 Kb)

Preventing risks of severe damage from climate change not only requires deep cuts in developed country greenhouse gas emissions, but enormous amounts of public and private investment to limit emissions while promoting green growth in developing countries. While attention has focused on emissions limitations commitments and architectures, the crucial issue of what must be done to mobilize and govern the necessary financial resources has received too little consideration. In Climate Finance, a leading group of policy experts and scholars show how effective mitigation of climate change will depend on a complex mix of public funds, private investment though carbon markets, and structured incentives that leave room for developing country innovations. This requires sophisticated national and global regulation of cap-and-trade and offset markets, forest and energy policy, international development funding, international trade law, and coordinated tax policy.

Thirty-six targeted policy essays present a succinct overview of the emerging field of climate finance, defining the issues, setting the stakes, and making new and comprehensive proposals for financial, regulatory, and governance mechanisms that will enrich political and policy debate for many years to come. The complex challenges of climate finance will continue to demand fresh insights and creative approaches. The ideas in this volume mark out starting points for essential institutional and policy innovations.

Reviews

Cluchey DP, "Seeking a Unified Field of Climate Finance" 15 Ocean and Coastal Law Journal 407 (2010)

Ordering

The book is now available for purchase at Barnes and Noble or Amazon

Articles