CLIMATE CHANGE FINANCE: PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR VULNERABLE COUNTRIES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 27, 2010 Serial No. 111–120 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 57–687PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:08 Nov 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\APGE\072710\57687 HFA PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida CONNIE MACK, Florida JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska GENE GREEN, Texas MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas LYNN WOOLSEY, California TED POE, Texas SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas BOB INGLIS, South Carolina BARBARA LEE, California GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York MIKE ROSS, Arkansas BRAD MILLER, North Carolina DAVID SCOTT, Georgia JIM COSTA, California KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona RON KLEIN, Florida RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa, Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois DIANE E. WATSON, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina MIKE ROSS, Arkansas DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JEFF FLAKE, Arizona GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:08 Nov 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\072710\57687 HFA PsN: SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable Lael Brainard, Under Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of the Treasury ................................................................................ 11 Jonathan Pershing, Ph.D., Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change, U.S. Department of State ............................................................................................ 20 Rear Admiral David W. Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the Navy, U.S. Department of the Navy .............................................................................. 28 Maura O’Neill, Ph.D., Senior Counselor to the Administrator and Chief Inno- vation Officer, U.S. Agency for International Development ............................. 37 The Honorable Nancy E. Soderberg, President, Connect U.S. Fund (Former Alternate Representative to the United Nations) ............................................. 57 Mr. Elliot Diringer, Vice President, International Strategies, Pew Center on Global Climate Change ................................................................................... 67 The Honorable Reed E. Hundt, CEO, Coalition for Green Capital (Former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission) ................................. 79 Redmond Clark, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, CBL Industrial Services .............. 93 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, a Representative in Congress from American Samoa, and Chairman, Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment: Prepared statement ................................................... 4 The Honorable Lael Brainard: Prepared statement ............................................. 14 Jonathan Pershing, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ................................................... 22 Rear Admiral David W. Titley: Prepared statement ............................................ 30 Maura O’Neill, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ........................................................... 39 The Honorable Nancy E. Soderberg: Prepared statement ................................... 60 Mr. Elliot Diringer: Prepared statement ............................................................... 69 The Honorable Reed E. Hundt: Prepared statement ............................................ 81 Redmond Clark, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ......................................................... 96 APPENDIX Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 118 Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 120 The Honorable Donald A. Manzullo, a Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois: Commission on Growth and Development, Working Paper No. 60 .................................................................................................................... 121 The Honorable Dana Rohrabacher, a Representative in Congress from the State of California List of 100 scientists ............................................................................................ 129 The Wall Street Journal article, ‘‘The Climategate Whitewash Continues’’ ... 132 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:08 Nov 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\072710\57687 HFA PsN: SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:08 Nov 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\APGE\072710\57687 HFA PsN: SHIRL CLIMATE CHANGE FINANCE: PROVIDING ASSISTANCE FOR VULNERABLE COUNTRIES TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2010 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA, THE PACIFIC AND THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:22 p.m., in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. The subcommittee hearing will come to order. This is the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global En- vironment of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The topic of discus- sion this afternoon is Climate Change Finance: Providing Assist- ance for Vulnerable Countries. As is the procedure in most hearings, I am going to give my opening statement; and then my good friend, the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Manzullo, will give his opening statement. He will be followed by my good friend from California, Congressman Rohrabacher, who will give his opening statement. Then we will invite our guests to give their testimony. Today’s hearing on climate change finance is the third in a series focused on the impact of global warming on the most vulnerable nations. Last December in Copenhagen, President Obama, along with other developed country leaders, pledged to raise $30 billion between 2010 and 2012 for ‘‘fast start’’ adaptation and mitigation efforts for countries most in need. Developed countries also com- mitted to providing $100 billion annually by 2010 to developing na- tions, conditioned on all major economies agreeing to ‘‘meaningful mitigation actions and full transparency as to their implementa- tion.’’ While the accord did not delineate precisely where the funds would come from or how they would be disbursed, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said funding would be derived from public, private, bilateral, multilateral, and alternative sources. The commitments made by the developed world to developing na- tions were essential to achieving the Copenhagen Accord during the much-anticipated 15th session of the conference of the parties. Negotiations nearly faltered until developed nations agreed to con- tribute resources to counter the effects of climate change in devel- oping countries. (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:08 Nov 17, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\APGE\072710\57687 HFA PsN: SHIRL 2 As the Copenhagen Accord itself states, ‘‘Enhanced action and international cooperation on adaptation is urgently required to ensure the implementation of the con- vention by enabling adaptation actions aimed at reducing vul- nerability and building resilience in developing countries, espe- cially in those that are particularly vulnerable, especially the least-developed countries, small island developing states and Africa. We agree that developed countries shall provide ade- quate, predictable and sustainable financial resources, tech- nology and capacity building to support the implementation of adaptation action in developing countries.’’ The Accord was an important step forward in achieving a legally binding global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions, a step which is essential to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. While the pledges made by developing countries are sub- stantial, they are both necessary and very much in our own inter- est. Ironically, the poorest countries,