G20 must overcome forex barrier to achieve climate finance goals

TO move away from fossil fuels, the G20 countries must push for new taxes from carbon emitters and overcome the foreign exchange (FX) barrier to achieve the ambitious climate finance goals.

- S V Krishna Chaitanya

This was suggested by Avinash Persaud, special advisor on climate change to the president of the Inter-American Development Bank and a key figure in the Loss and Damage Fund negotiations. Persaud is also one of the world's prominent economists and the architect of FX Liquidity Facility, a first-of-its-kind initiative mooted in Brazil earlier this year.

In an interview with this newspaper in Baku ahead of the Rio G20 summit, which kicks off from Monday, Persaud said it's high time for the G20 to unlock foreign investments in renewable energy projects in countries like India.