The event will be held in English. Food and coffee will be served from 9.30, and the event starts at 10.00. The event will be streamed on Norwegian Church Aid’s YouTube channel: Klimautvalg lanserer rapport – Slik kan Norge ta lederskap for klimaet – YouTube

In international climate politics, the year 2023 is a climate finance year. The sixth assessment report from the IPCC points to the major gap in climate finance as a key issue. Climate finance is on top of the agenda of the spring-meetings in the World Bank/IMF. The French president, Macron, and the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mottley, have invited world leaders to a High-Level meeting on climate finance in Paris in June. The G20 finance ministers will discuss the topic in July. The UN General Secretary has invited world leaders to a High-Level meeting on climate change in September, and will only allow heads of state with new initiatives to enter. At COP 28 in Dubai, climate finance will once again be decisive for progress in global climate action.

From 2030, low- and middle-income countries will need USD 1000 billion annually in external support for emission reductions and climate adaptation, in addition to the large and growing finance needs to deal with losses and damages caused by the climate crisis. It is necessary that some countries take leadership, by promoting solutions. If a nation like Norway with huge, extraordinary incomes, does not want to do this in this situation, then who will?

Norway has the opportunity to take global leadership in this field. How Norway can do this is among the questions that have been central to the work of the Expert Committee on innovative sources of climate finance, led by the former Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen, and set up by the six major humanitarian organizations in Norway (Red Cross, Norwegian Church Aid, Save the Children, Norwegian People’s Aid, Caritas and the Norwegian Refugee Council). In its report, the committee shows how Norway can mobilize public and private capital and secure increased international funding.

Program:

10.00–10.15 Presentation of recommendations and handover of the report to the six organizations, by Vidar Helgesen

10.15–10.50 Key-note speakers:

– Johan Rockström (Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research): Why boosting climate finance is urgent and why the world is looking to Norway for leadership.

– Frannie Lautier (Partner, CEO of SouthBridge Investment and former leader of African Development Bank): Positioning multilateral development banks for more effective climate finance: How Norway could lead

– Nigel Topping (former High-Level Champion for climate during UNFCCC): Mobilising massive private investment and the necessary pipeline: how Norway could lea

10.50–11.10 Comments from Norwegian business, science, and civil society:

– Idar Kreutzer, Vice President, Norwegian Confederation of Business and Industry (NHO)

– Kristin Halvorsen, Director, Cicero Institute for Climate Research

– Elise Åsnes, leader of Spire youth network

11.10–11.30 Comments from political leaders:

– Nikolai Astrup (Conservative Party), climate/energy spokesperson and former Minister for International Development

– Kari-Elisabeth Kaski (Socialist Left Party), finance spokesperson

11.30–11.40 Concluding remarks by Bjørg Sandkjær, State Secretary for International Development