No agreement on climate change funding

Emma Alberici, Europe correspondent

Last Updated: Mon, 9 Nov 2009 07:34:00 +1100

Australia's treasurer, Wayne Swan, says it's not appropriate for the world's finance ministers to decide on climate change financing ahead of next month's UN meeting.

Mr Swan was speaking, after a meeting of finance ministers in Scotland failed to come up with any deal on how to help poor countries adapt to global warming.

He also says it's premature to be putting a figure on how much adapting to climate change will cost the developing world.

The European Union says it will cost poorer nations around $US147 billion dollars to cope with the demands of a climate change agreement.

How to fund that was a key agenda item at the G20 finance ministers meeting but Mr Swan says it's too early to be discussing the cost of a deal that isn't due to be decided until next month in Copenhagen.

"I'd regard it as premature for us to be putting a figure in total in the absence of some knowledge of the likely nature of an agreement and the likely institutional measures that goes with it," he said.

Mr Swan also claimed that the G20 finance ministers meeting was the wrong venue to be debating how much money it would cost to fund a change in worldwide behaviours.

"Ultimately this is an issue which is being handled under the auspices of the United Nations and its framework," he said.

"Finance ministers can input but they are not determinative in the final decision."

The German, French, Danish, Spanish and British finance ministers all expressed disappointment that a deal on climate financing wasn't reached at the G20 meeting.

The Danish Prime Minister now says the best the world can hope for at next month's climate change meeting is a non binding political agreement.

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