Financial engineering of climate investment in developing countries: nationally appropriate mitigation action and how to finance it. By Søren E. Lütken

Abstract

Financial engineering of climate investment in developing countries: nationally appropriate mitigation action and how to finance it. By Søren E. Lütken. London: Anthem Press. 2014. 157pp. Index. £59.00. ISBN 978 1 78308 018 2. Despite its somewhat technical title, this book is grappling with one of the key questions in the international debate on climate change, namely how to unlock finance in support of developing countries' low carbon and climate-resilient development. The need to mobilize finance is also a ‘hot topic’ of international climate negotiations and may become the main stumbling block in the efforts to reach a global agreement at the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris in December 2015. Key issues in the climate finance debate remain unresolved. These include: how much finance is needed to secure a global low carbon transformation sufficient to meet the 2°C climate goal? Who are the key actors? What is the optimal balance between public and private resources? And what is the most efficient way to spend our limited (public) resources?