It is hard enough for environmental negotiators to draft an effective post 2012 climate agreement what with all the complicated environmental exceptions, rules for tradable permits and the flexible mechanisms. However what is also going on in capitals makes their crucial work even more complicated. Climate negotiators are hearing from their finance ministries, trade ministries, and central banks to keep away from hard economic issues - - unless they bring new cash into the country.

From the North and South, government officials are getting contradictory messages on climate change from the international financial system. For example, the Bali Action Plan calls for "measurable, reportable and verifiable" results but the international financial system working through the IMF, the World Bank, the regional development banks and the Basel Committees expects governments to report the old fashioned way -- cash-in, cash-out, cash-remaining. This forces officials in capitals into an unnecessary tension between the urgent realities for a sound long-term climate agreement and the demands of the standard operating procedures of the IFIs.

The first element of the IES project on Policy Coherence 2009 is to bring to light additional examples of how pre-existing rules and practices in the trade, finance, and monetary systems create contradictory influences on the operation of a sound and effective global climate regime.

The second element of the project is to develop proposals that could be considered by those in institutions of public trust to enhance the mutually supportive functions of the various international regimes or, if necessary, to mitigate the policy incoherence in these areas. The basic approach is to build upon the recent Indonesian and Danish meetings and to encourage new academic and public policy research that might be less hindered by pre-existing economic presumptions, rules, and procedures. Moving beyond the business-as-usual mindset does not necessarily mean that one should not be mindful of the powerful self-interested constituencies that have organised around the existing rules and disciplines.

The results of these two elements will be summarised into an information package drawing on the diverse competences of the project's expert group. The papers in the information package and a concise policy recommendation will be progressively developed through a series of small consultations with officials involving participants from the climate, trade, and economic/monetary communities.

This project is being initiated by the Institute for Environmental Security with support of the Netherlands Ministry of Environment.