Building on the Copenhagen Accord, the United Nations Secretary’s High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Finance (AGF) was set up in February 2010 to identify how industrialised countries could mobilise US$100 billion of resources per annum by 2020, to support climate-resilient development in the developing world. The Group consisted of 21 members, from the public and private sectors and from the developed and developing worlds. It was co-chaired by the Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway. Working through most of 2010, it has analysed a wide range of options for raising this money from both public and private sources.

This Special Issue brief outlines the implications of AGF report recommendations for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Key messages include:

• The climate-investment requirements of the SIDS will primarily need to be met through grants from public sources, although private sources can complement these.
• The report’s emphasis on raising revenues in a way that creates incentives for developed countries to reduce their emissions is welcome, but introduces risks concerning the reliability of revenues. These risks can be relieved by robust, credible commitments by developed countries to reduce their emissions.
• SIDS may be concerned that the levies on international transport, which the AGF report emphasises, could impede their development. But the report also recognises the importance of compensation for any negative effects.
• SIDS will want to ensure that climate finance is disbursed according to need and not according to existing aid patterns.