FPIF
Government officials from an elite group of developed countries meeting in Washington, D.C.
at the invitation of U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern appear to be on the
brink of instigating yet another corporate handout and big bank
giveaway—this time in the name of fighting climate change.
If it follows a recently leaked agenda,
the meeting will focus on using capital markets to raise money for
climate finance. The goal is to fill the void left by the United States
and other developed nations that have failed to meet their legal
obligations to deliver funding to poorer countries for climate programs.
In this corporate-oriented approach, countries would provide generous
loan guarantees and export subsidies that sweeten investments for
private firms and give them the chance to net big profits while leaving
governments (and the taxpayers they represent) to cover the losses if
investors’ bets don’t pay off. Wealthy countries would then be able to
claim that they had moved billions of dollars of new climate
investments.
