The Second UNFCCC Workshop on Long-term Finance opened on Monday, 1 October 2012 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, with participants listening to keynote speeches. Via videolink, Sizwe Nxasana, CEO, FirstRand Limited, noted that governments alone cannot make the shift to a low-carbon economy and underlined the importance of involving all stakeholders. He called for regulations and legislation to play an enabling role in driving further investments. Also via video link, Trevor Manuel, Minister in the Presidency, National Planning Commission, South Africa, called for focusing on taxing the “bad carbon emissions,” by putting a price on carbon, establishing carbon trading systems and setting an emissions ceiling.

The first session on scaling-up of climate finance and sources then convened and addressed:the potential of existing, new and innovative sources of climate finance in the short, medium and long term; various approaches and possible strategies for mobilization of scaled-up climate finance from multiple sources; and the potential role of the UNFCCC in unlocking and/or catalyzing climate finance at all levels.

During the presentations, Mattia Romani, London School of Economics and Green Global Growth Institute, stressed that approximately US$50 billion could be raised relatively quickly from public sources with a carbon price of US$20-25, noting the need for international coordination and collaboration with the private sector in order to unlock these sources.

Nick Robins, HSBC, via videolink, stressed that the institutional investor and banking entities have entered as new stakeholders in the discussions on climate finance. He said new regulatory initiatives have not taken into account sustainable development and low-carbon growth, and emphasized the incipient demand for long-term assets.

Three breakout groups then convened to discuss: the sources of climate finance; how to prevent perverse incentives that could lead developed countries to reduce their emission reduction targets; and aviation and maritime sources and subsidies.