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UNFCCC Adaptation Committee
Adaptation Finance Bulletin
Issue No.4
(November 2019)
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The UNFCCC Adaptation Finance Bulletin provides
the latest news and updates to Parties and other interested stakeholders on adaptation finance-related information from
funds, UNFCCC bodies and negotiations, as well as an overview of relevant upcoming events.
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- The Adaptation Committee organized the 2019 Technical Expert Meeting on Adaptation (TEM-A) from 25-26 June on the topic of Adaptation Finance, including the private sector. Experts gathered to discuss challenges related to accessing and mobilizing finance for climate change adaptation, and to illustrate concrete case studies and good practices that can help countries, businesses, and communities surmount these enduring issues. Throughout the meeting, panelists and attendees reflected on the striking statistic that, on average from 2015-2016, climate funds represented only 3% of international public adaptation finance flows. This underscored the need to blend and supplement finance from these funds with additional public and private investment. Read the technical paper for more details, including key messages and case studies. Drawing on the findings from the expert meeting, the Adaptation Committee agreed on a set of recommendations for consideration by COP 25. Read the recommendations in the AC's annual report for 2019 (FCCC/SB/2019/3).
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| 2019 Technical Expert Meeting on Adaptation
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- In the recent pledging conference for the GCF's first replenishment (24-25 October), 27 countries pledged USD 9.78 billion for the next four years.
- The GCF's 24th Board meeting closed on 14 November 2019 after allocating USD 407.8 million, which raised the total portfolio to USD 5.6 billion. During the meeting, 13 new projects were approved to reduce emissions and boost resilience; the GCF is now financing climate action in over 100 developing countries. During the meeting, Indonesia, which is both a contributor to and recipient of GCF funding, pledged an additional USD 500,000 to the first replenishment, doubling its initial contribution.
- Additionally, the GCF Board approved seven new Accredited Entities - five of which are direct access entities - bringing the total number of Accredited Entities to 95.
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Fig. 1. Overview of the GCF Portfolio.
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- In July 2019, in the GCF Board also agreed on the governance reform, developing procedures for decision-making in the absence of consensus among Board members.
- Earlier in the year, following an evaluation of the Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme by its Independent Evaluation Unit, the GCF Board adopted a budget and work programme based on its findings which ushers in a new phase of readiness support with USD 122.5 million for developing countries.
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GEF (SCCF/LCDF) - Update
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- As of 30 June 2019, total cumulative pledges to the Least Development Countries Fund (LDCF) amounted to USD 1.4 billion from 25 national and two sub-national donors.
- In June 2019, the 26th LDCF/SCCF Council approved a Joint LDCF/SCCF Work Program with eleven LDCF projects amounting to USD 101.6 million in LDCF resources, and with one SCCF project receiving USD 967,150.
- This Work Program includes projects for 14 LDCs. Among these countries, seven had projects pipelined for the 6th phase of the GEF (GEF-6). The GEF Secretariat carried out consultations with these countries to discuss adaptation priorities and how/whether the pipelined initiatives would fit the country priorities to be supported by the LDCF in GEF-7. This is in line with operational improvements outlined in the 2018-2022 GEF Programming Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change.
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The SCCF-GEF Trust Fund project included in the Work Program covers seven Caribbean small islands developing States. The SCCF resources address climate adaptation concerns on a regional/global scale.
- As at 30 June 2019, cumulative pledges to the SCCF amounted to USD 356.1 million. As at the same date, cumulative SCCF funding decisions by the Council and the CEO amounted to USD 354.8 million for 79 projects.
- Get an overview of how the GEF is financing adaptation to climate change in a publication issued on 20 September.
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Adaptation Fund (AF) - Update
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As of 11 November 2019,
total contributions
to the Adaptation Fund, including sales from Certified Emission Reduction proceeds, amounted to USD 875.15 million
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The Adaptation Fund has continued to receive record demand for its work. The Fund has now reached the milestone of 100 concrete adaptation projects totaling about USD 720 million.
- At its 34th meeting, the Adaptation Fund Board approved over USD 63 million in grant funding for new projects, including the Fund's first grants to foster innovation and scale-up adaptation projects. The Board has now approved over USD 188 million in new project funding in 2019 alone.
- The 34th meeting also saw the Board advance its administrative processes to continue to serve the Paris Agreement, to make its review process more efficient, and to continue enhancing its coordination with the GCF.
- Earlier, in the year, the Board approved 10 new concrete adaptation and resilience projects totaling USD 93 million for the most vulnerable communities in developing countries throughout the globe, in intersessional decisions in July 2019.
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- In 2019, the Fund expanded access to climate finance to more countries that are among the most vulnerable to climate change with the accreditation of three national implementing entities (NIES) in Tuvalu, Uganda and Zimbabwe. They were accredited under the Fund'sDirect Access modality, which gives countries the ability to access financing and develop projects directly through the Fund. The total number of AF accredited implementing entities now amounts to 49. Among the 31 NIEs, 14 are from SIDS or LDCs.
- The Board re-accredited, following a 'fast-track' re-accreditation process, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the Ministry of Environment of Rwanda as NIEs; and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme as an RIE
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- In an effort to accelerate and enhance Direct Access to climate finance for developing countries that are vulnerable to climate change, the Adaptation Fund, the GCF, African Development Bank and South African National Biodiversity Institutefacilitated a meeting of more than 30 accredited Direct Access implementing entities from both AF and GCF in Durban, South Africa in June 2019
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- The AF in collaboration with Accreditation Panel members produced a study showcasing the gaps in the Accreditation and Re-Accreditation process, including 11 case studies.
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Latest from the Adaptation Committe (AC)
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AC members at the 15th meeting of the AC
- The Adaptation Committee (AC) held its 2019 Adaptation Forum on 10 April in the context of the 2019 NAP Expo in Songdo, Republic of Korea. The theme was Engagement of the private sector in adaptation planning processes, including NAPs: Challenges and opportunities. The Forum yielded four key outcomes related to mitigating climate risks, engaging businesses in adaptation planning processes, financial support for private sector adaptation, and new business opportunities arising in a changing world. More details are available in the interactive meeting report.
- At its 16th meeting (9-12 September 2019) the AC agreed on input to the Standing Committee on Finance's (SCF) guidance to the Financial Mechanism of the Convention, which the SCF considered at its 21st meeting on 3-5 October. The draft guidance is reflected in document SCF/2019/21/3 and the outcomes will be included in the SCF's report to COP 25.
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Latest from the LEG
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- The 36th meeting of the LDC Expert Group (LEG) was held in Kenya from 27-30 August 2019. The meeting included discussions with the GCF and the GEF and its agencies on their continued provision of support to the LDCs for the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans and the implementation of the LDC work programme.
- Prior to that, the LEG held its 35th meeting in February/March 2019, in Kiribati. One of the observations was that the LDCs that did not have funding to cover the main activities to formulate their NAPs, were unable to progress beyond the initial preparatory work, and would benefit from assistance in developing proposals to access funding from the GCF.
- The LEG also organized the 2019 NAP Expo from 8 to 12 April in Songdo, Republic of Korea in collaboration with various bodies and organizations. Under the overall theme of "Raising adaptation ambition by advancing national adaptation plans", the NAP Expo featured sessions with regard to readiness funding for the formulation of NAPs.These sessions emphasized the importance of well-established national processes to help countries to, among other things, effectively catalyze action and funding from different sources and develop comprehensive financing strategies for adaptation.
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| 2019 NAP Expo as part of the Korea Global Adaptation Week 2019. |
- The LEG side event during SB 50 engaged representatives from the GCF secretariat, the GEF secretariat and NAP-GSP to reflect on support to the LDCs, and on how to assist the countries to have their NAPs by 2020 and to facilitate implementation afterwards. The GCF had 77 NAP proposals submitted, of which 35 had been approved/endorsed. The LDCF had USD 73.3 million pledged between Dec 2018 and June 2019, and the June 2019 GEF LDCF/SCCF Council approved funding for 11 NAPA projects and programmes worth USD 100 million. On technical matters, the importance of including a funding strategy in the NAP linked to the GCF country programme was emphasized.
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Latest from the Executive Committee of WIM
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Latest from the SCF
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- The Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) held its 21st meeting from 3-5 October 2019 in Bonn, Germany. At this meeting the SCF agreed on the outlines of two upcoming reports, namely, the 2020 Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance Flows and the first report on determining the needs of developing countries
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| SCF 20: Key message from Patricia on the important role the SCF plays. |
- The SCF also held its 2019 Forum on the topic of Climate Finance and Sustainable cities, where it engaged with the representatives from global city networks and institutions to design the objectives and sessions. The SCF decided that the 2020 Forum will focus on the topic of "Finance for nature-based solutions."
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