Deliberations during COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, placed special emphasis on implementation. Adaptation finance was a recurring theme throughout the conference.

In the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan, the COP and the CMA urged developed country Parties to urgently scale up their provision of adaptation finance, including for the development and implementation of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Adaptation Communications. Likewise, additional voluntary support by other Parties was also encouraged.

The COP and the CMA also highlighted the importance of the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) in supporting developing country Parties in their adaptation actions. Developed countries were invited to further contribute to the two funds. The CMA also recognized the central role of the Adaptation Fund and urged all its contributors to fulfil their pledges in a timely manner and invited them to ensure and the sustainability of the Fund’s resources. 

Furthermore, the COP and the CMA called on the shareholders of multilateral development banks and international financial institutions to reform multilateral development bank practices and priorities, align and scale up funding, simplify access, and mobilize climate finance from diverse sources. Multilateral development banks were also encouraged to define a new vision and commensurate operational model, channels and instruments that are fit for the purpose of adequately addressing the global climate emergency, including deploying a full suite of instruments, from grants to guarantees and non-debt instruments, taking into account debt burdens, and to address risk appetite, with a view to substantially increasing climate finance

Additionally, the COP and the CMA recognized barriers emphasize the ongoing challenges to accessing climate finance faced by developing countries and encouraged further efforts, including by the operating entities of the Financial Mechanisms, to simplify access to finance. 

The CMA also requested that the Standing Committee on Finance prepare a report on the doubling of adaptation finance for its consideration at its fifth session.

In its decision on NAPs, the COP noted the challenges, complexities and delays experienced by developing country Parties in accessing funding and support from the GCF for NAP formulation and implementation, particularly in relation to the submission and review of proposals for funding. As such, the Adaptation Committee and the Least Developed Countries Expert Group were invited to continue to support the formulation and implementation of NAPs, including by recommending ways to facilitate the mobilization of support. 

In its Fourth Review of the Adaptation Fund (AF), the CMP noted with concern the continued issues relating to the sustainability, adequacy, and predictability of the Fund’s funding given the current prices of certified emissions reductions. It stressed the importance of financial contributions to the Fund, including in the context of urging developed country Parties to at least double their collective contributions of climate adaptation finance to developing countries from 2019 levels by 2025. The CMP encouraged multi-year contributions to the Fund, noting that these enhance the predictability of its funding. The Adaptation Fund Board was encouraged to continue its efforts to mobilize finance from a variety of sources under its next resource mobilization strategy (2022-2025). Furthermore, the Board was encouraged to continue to facilitate greater access to the Fund, including through capacity building of national implementing agencies, faster disbursement of approved grants, strengthening the complementarity between the Adaptation Fund and other institutions, and further improving geographical and thematic coverage in the accreditation of national and regional implementing entities. 

Additionally, while noting the 2022 report of the Adaptation Fund Board, the CMP requested that the Board to consider providing support for country-driven adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries with a view to assisting them in enhancing implementation of their NAPs and other adaptation planning processes. 

In its guidance to the GCF, the CMA requested the Board to increase support to developing countries in order to guide and enable Green Climate Fund programming to promote a paradigm shift across both high impact areas of mitigation potential and countries’ adaptation and resilience needs, including by supporting a wider alignment of financial flows with countries’ climate plans and strategies. The COP, in its guidance to the GCF, requested the GCF Board to continue to enhance support for the formulation and implementation of NAPs.

In its guidance to the GEF, the CMA encouraged the GEF to, through the Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency, continue providing capacity-building support to strengthen developing country Parties for enhancing and sustaining adaptation monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning systems. This is with a view to facilitating the monitoring and reporting of progress, effectiveness and adequacy of adaptation action and support, as well as experience sharing globally as a means to enhance action, support and international cooperation. 

Lastly, the CMA noted re-emphasized that its negotiations deliberations regarding the setting of the new collective quantified goal on climate finance will close conclude in 2024. In establishing the new goal, the CMA acknowledged that deliberations should take into account the needs and priorities of developing countries. The CMA also acknowledged the need to significantly strengthen the ad-hoc programme on the new collective quantified goal in light of the urgency of scaling up climate action; central to this was the CMA’s emphasis on broad participation and multi-stakeholder engagement.