UN panel says $100 bln climate aid goal feasible

* Climate aid goal "challenging but feasible", Norway PM
* Penalties on carbon emissions to be a major source
* Report to be submitted to U.N., public in early November
Reuters AlertNet 12 Oct 10;

OSLO, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A U.N. advisory group agreed on Tuesday it would be tough but feasible for rich nations to raise a planned $100 billion a year from 2020 to help poor countries combat climate change, Norway's Prime Minister told Reuters.

Jens Stoltenberg, who co-chaired a final meeting of top experts in Addis Ababa on Tuesday with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, said higher penalties on carbon emissions had to be a main source to raise the cash.

"We have concluded that it is challenging but feasible, achievable to raise the $100 billion," Stoltenberg said in a telephone interview to the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

Rich nations agreed at the Copenhagen summit in December 2009 to aim to raise $100 billion a year from 2020 to help poor nations curb their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to likely impacts such as floods, droughts, mudslides or rising seas.

But they did not agree how and no nations have made firm long-term offers of cash.

The U.N. advisory group, appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in March to come up with ideas, will publish a final report in early November. Stoltenberg said the group would make recommendations but this would not be a full-blown plan.

"This will not be a blueprint with an exact formula of how exactly to raise $100 billion," Stoltenberg said.

"We will provide some analytical work, some guidelines and narrow down the different options which we believe are the most realistic and most viable," he said.

"Carbon pricing has to be one of the major sources of finance," he said, adding there were many different options, such as taxes on emissions or via carbon markets.

He declined to give exact details of sources of funds. Suggestions have also included more expensive plane tickets or taxes on bunker oil.