Domestic and International Finance in a Regional Perspective

Abstract

Low carbon development is a key development path in Asian region. Among others, finance is one of key aspects to implement actions towards low carbon development. This chapter discusses on the issues on finance in promotion of low carbon energy system in Asia and the Pacific region. According to the author’s calculation, annually 58 billion US dollars are incrementally required for low carbon development in Asia. On the other hand, some of Asian countries mobilize a large amount of finance domestically and internationally but LDCs still rely on concessional finance such as ODA. To identify the challenges for mobilizing finance, the characteristics of each domestic and international public finance, private finance and blending mechanism. Further, to address these challenges, some policy measures, institutions and innovative approaches, such as Green Bond, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), Financial Transaction Tax are examined. Although, each finance source and innovative mechanism have pros and cons, better finance structure in combination with appropriate finance resources and innovative mechanisms could overcome the weakness and challenges of each finance resource and innovative mechanism. In addition, the options for the choice of finance source and instrument will be extended by better collaboration among Asian countries. Based on those analysis, author proposes 4 policy recommendations including creation of enabling environment, capacity development, transparency and accountability, and development of common approach among Asian countries.

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