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For Immediate Release
Contact:

For Friends of the Earth's Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman in London, contact press officer Henry Rummins, +44 (0) 20 7566 1649
Friends of the Earth International media coordinator Marlijn Dingshoff in Amsterdam: +31(0) 20 6221369

High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Must Avoid Pitfalls

LONDON

Speaking in advance of the anticipated release of the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, tomorrow, convened by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon in the aftermath of the Copenhagen climate conference last year, Friends of the Earth's Climate Campaigner Asad Rehman said:

"The recommendations of the High-Level Advisory Group could boost the chances of progress at the upcoming climate negotiations in Cancun - but they must avoid the pitfalls which will slow negotiations down to a crawl."

"It's totally inappropriate for the countries who have mortgaged our planet's future to lend money to developing countries to tackle climate change - and then leave them saddled with financial and environmental catastrophe."

"New money from the rich to the developing world must be in the form of grants, not loans."

"Recommendations for a global carbon market would risk a speculative trading bubble and a double whammy of financial and climatic disaster."

"There are a range of options already on the table which can generate, fairly and effectively, the $200 billion which is the minimum required annually for developing countries to tackle climate change."

"These should include a 'Robin Hood tax' on international financial transactions, a levy on international flights and ending fossil fuel subsidies."

"This new money should form part of a Global Climate Fund under the control of the UN, which would provide money for developing countries in a transparent and democratic way."

For further information on the Robin Hood tax, visit www.robinhoodtax.org.uk

Friends of the Earth International is the world's largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 74 national member groups and some 5,000 local activist groups on every continent. With over 2 million members and supporters around the world, FOEI campaigns on today's most urgent environmental and social issues.