ADAPTATION FINANCE BULLETIN | |
UNFCCC Adaptation Committee | | |
News from the Global Environment Facility | | |
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Pictured above: Group photo at the end of the 62nd meeting of the GEF Council
Photo by IISD/ENB | Diego Noguera
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62nd Meeting of the GEF Council Approves Final Work Program of GEF-7 Cycle | |
The 62nd meeting of the GEF Council convened between 21 to 23 June 2022, in McLean, Virginia, United States – the first in person meeting since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The GEF Work Program for the GEF Trust Fund encompasses 18 projects in total, and one program from all five priority focal areas: biodiversity loss, chemicals and waste, climate change, international waters, and land degradation.
The Council approved the final Work Program under the GEF’s seventh replenishment cycle (GEF-7), equaling USD 165.8 million. The Work Program is expected to contribute to green and blue recoveries in small island developing States (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs), with the African region securing the largest share of funding.
Likewise, the Council also negotiated the GEF’s next four-year replenishment period, GEF-8, and concluded with total pledges of USD 5.33 billion – a 30 per cent increase from GEF-7.
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Figure extracted from the GEF Corporate Scorecard 2022 | |
32nd Council Meeting of the LDCF and SCCF Plans for More Targeted Adaptation Support | |
The 32nd Council meeting of the LDCF and the SCCF saw GEF member countries collectively endorse a new strategy which not only raises the funding cap for LDC’s from USD 10 million to USD 20 million, but also creates a special funding window for SIDS. Moreover, Denmark and Finland also announced new pledges to the LDCF, amounting to USD 42.4 million and USD 2.1 million respectively.
Representatives of vulnerable low-income and developing states welcomed the commitments for greater targeted assistance, which are geared to address receiving countries’ climate change-related priorities, including but not limited to food security and health; water security; early warning and climate information services; nature based solutions to facilitate climate resilience; and ecosystem restoration.
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GEF Publishes Corporate Scorecard 2022 | |
The GEF-7 Corporate Scorecard is a comprehensive report documenting the performance of the GEF during its GEF-7 period. It marks the end of the GEF-7 cycle, and is the last the last report covering the period, including all projects from June 2018 to June 2022.
The report tracks progress made towards the realization of the GEF-7 targets, and also assesses how the GEF is utilizing its resources from the seventh replenishment cycle. As such, highlights from this edition of the corporate scorecard report indicate that the approval of the June 2022 work program has led to the utilization of 95 per cent of GEF-7 resources, and the full achievement of seven out of ten core indicator targets for the GEF-7 period.
In particular, the utilization of STAR resources by the LDCs and SIDS – which account for over half of GEF funding recipients – currently stands at a record 94 per cent.
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News from the Adaptation Fund | |
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Pictured above: Young farmers in Mangaia, Cook Islands
Photo by Melina Tuiravakai
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Adaptation Fund Unveils a New Evaluation Policy | |
Adaptation Fund Releases New Study on Youth Engagement | |
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The Adaptation Fund’s new Evaluation Policy (EP) replaces its 2012 Evaluation Framework, in a bid to strengthen learning, decision-making, and accountability in the Fund’s processes. The EP lays out the evaluation function’s goals and principles - recognising that climate change is one of the greatest threats to the planet’s ecosystems and human population - and therefore seeks to ensure the work of the Fund contributes effectively towards the realization of its mission.
In particular, the new EP sets out a more integrated and comprehensive approach to monitoring, evaluation, and learning, in accordance with the Fund’s emphasis on “learning for effective adaptation” as a cornerstone of its mission.
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The Adaptation Fund’s latest study on youth engagement in its adaptation projects highlights the benefits of youth participation, enabling factors, drivers, and barriers to effective engagement within the Fund's portfolio of projects. The study comes at a time where the Adaptation Fund continues to emphasize the vulnerability of young people and the importance of facilitating their effective adaptation to climate change.
Through a consolidated analysis of the role of youth in awareness raising, project trainings including project development and implementation, and their role as agents of change, the youth engagement study puts forth comprehensive recommendations to facilitate youth engagement in multilevel adaptation and ensure their meaningful participation.
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News from the Green Climate Fund | |
33rd Meeting of the GCF Board Approves Four New Projects | |
The GCF held its 33rd meeting of the Board between 17th- 20th July in Incheon, Republic of Korea.
The meeting agenda included the approval of new climate projects, the launch of the Fund’s next replenishment cycle (2024-2027), and the adoption of new policies, including an adaptation framework to guide the GCF’s scope and approach for adaptation support.
The approval of four new climate projects in Benin, Gambia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank – together valued at USD 380.7 million – bring assets under the management of the GCF to USD 40 billion.
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GCF Approves Climate Investor Two Fund | |
The GCF approved the creation of Climate Investor Two in late July 2022, the first of GCF’s at-scale private sector programs in the water sector. The approval comes at a time of growing recognition of the importance of the water cycle in the global climate crisis, reflected in the USD 880 million pledged for the program’s implementation.
The new fund aims to support the private sector in developing climate-resilient infrastructure projects within the water, sanitation, and ocean sectors of developing countries. It is set to be implemented in nineteen countries across three regions, namely, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
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News from the European Investment Bank | |
Photo by Chuttersnap on Unsplash | |
EIB Joins Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure to Limit the Destruction Caused by Climate Change
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has joined the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), in accordance with its EIB Adaptation Plan announced at COP26 in Glasgow, which pledges to increase its share of adaptation support to 15 per cent of the Bank’s overall financing of climate action by 2025.
The CDRI is a partnership between state governments, UN agencies, multilateral development banks and the private sector, which promotes the rapid development of infrastructure resilient to climate change and natural disasters. EIB membership of CDRI will not only help facilitate access to climate finance, but also strengthen knowledge sharing, advocacy, and partnership development.
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News from the Standing Committee on Finance | |
Figure extracted from the SCF's Fourth Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance Flows | |
The SCF Holds a Webinar on Climate Finance Flows
On August 4th 2022, the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) held a webinar capturing the latest updates on climate finance flows. The online event presented an update on the development of the SCF’s work in 2022, including the Fifth Biennial Assessment and Overview of Climate Finance Flows as well as its work on definitions of climate finance. It provided an opportunity for all stakeholders, including private finance institutions, civil society, and governments to reflect on the state of climate finance data coverage, sources, quality, and effectiveness.
The webinar is available to watch on-demand here.
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Latest from the Technology Executive Committee | |
Figure extracted from the Technology Executive Committee's Technical Paper on Support for Climate Technologies Provided by the Operating Entities of the Financial Mechanism (2022) | |
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TEC Publishes Technical Paper on Support for Climate Technologies
The Technology Executive Committee's latest technical paper, Support for Climate Technologies Provided by the Operating Entities of the Financial Mechanism analyses the experiences, best practices and lessons learned from the technological support provided by the GCF and GEF, across 42 projects. In particular, it looks to assess the extent to which the Financial Mechanism has facilitated the scaling up of climate technologies, and also to urge collaboration between the Financial and Technological Mechanisms.
The paper notes that the inclusion of climate technologies and financial actors such as impact investors at the early stages of project development can help overcome systemic barriers to funding. Likewise, it highlights the indispensable role of the private sector, and the importance of channeling private sector resources and innovation for technology transfer and development. Finally, the paper emphasises the urgent need to mainstream gender considerations into climate change action and climate technologies, and especially greater effort to understand the value of doing so.
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Spotlight on Support for NAPs: Adaptation Committee Launches New Report and Online Tool for Navigating Landscape of Support | |
Figure extracted from the Adaptation Committee's publication on Navigating the landscape of support for the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans (2022) | |
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The Adaptation Committee’s August 2022 publication, Navigating the landscape of support for the process to formulate and implement national adaptation plans, provides an overview of the diverse mechanisms of support available to countries for the design and implementation of their national adaptation plans.
It identifies six distinct modes of support available to states: Guidelines; Systematic observation, science and climate services; Information and knowledge; Finance; Capacity-building and technical support; and Technology development and transfer. In addition to exploring the nuances of each of these mechanisms individually, the publication also recognizes the interdependence between them. In doing so, it highlights the interplay between these diverse modes of support and consequently, the iterative nature of the national adaptation process, and the need for multidimensional support for its effectiveness.
The publication is accompanied by an online tool which allows countries to better understand and navigate the landscape of assistance available to them based on their needs and priorities.
The online tool complements the publication by presenting information in a manner that is easier to navigate and update. By incorporating new opportunities for support with greater flexibility, the tool facilitates more timely responses to countries’ varied support needs.
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