Climate Funding

CLIMATE FUNDING

INTRODUCTION :

Money has been central to many fights at the climate change negotiations. The UNFCCC requires industrialised developed countries to provide financial assistance to developing nations to deal with climate change, because it was a rich World’s emission since the industrial revolution which caused the climate change in the first place.

There are two funding mechanisms to provide finance for projects in developing countries that will help fight climate change effects- the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund.

Green Climate Fund : It was established at COP- 16 Cancun in 2010 has an operating entity of the financial mechanism of the convention under article 11. GCF is regarded to be a totem of global climate finance Corporation, the chief instrument of fulfilling developed countries’ collective promise to put $100 billion annually(not enough) into the hat by 2020.

It supports programmes, projects and other activities in developing countries. COP-21 held at Paris also decided that GCF shall serve the Paris agreement. Paris agreement provides commitment of developed countries to provide$ 100 billion per annum for climate adaptation and mitigation by 2025.

Structure :

The fund is governed by the GCF board consisting of 24 members equally divided between developed and developing countries apart from the UNFCCC and it is accountable to one function under the COP to support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing countries. It is served by an independent secretariat located in Songdo, Republic of Korea. The World Bank serves as the interim trustee of the GCF.

• Poor Track record of developed countries in fulfilling their financial commitments has been disappointing.
• They have often been accused of double counting, inflating claims, repackaging existing aid money as climate finance, ignoring the requirements of adaptive activities.
• $100 million will be inadequate.
• while even the promised money is not coming to the developing countries have pointed out that the $100 billion amount was woefully inadequate to meet climate challenges

Global Environment Facility (GEF): Global environment facility was created on the eve of RIO Summit in 1992 to help tackle plants’ most important environmental problems. It is an independent, international partnership of 180 countries, international institutions, civil society, organisations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues.

What has it done so far? /what does GEF do?

GEF has provided billions of dollars in grants and have mobilised around 100 billion dollars in Co- financing for my projects.

The key areas in which GEF has contributed are: protected areas Sustainable landscape and seascape Sustainable for management, Sustainable land management, GG emission reduction, integrated water, resources, management, safe disposal of Hazardous wastes, adaptation to climate change, etc.

GEF also serves as financial mechanism for the following convention :

• CBD
• UNFCCC
• UNCCD
• Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POP)
• Minamata Convention on Mercury.

It also supports implementation of Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the ozone layer in countries with economies in transition.

Structure :

The GEF has a Unique governance Structure organised around an assembly – ( all 183 member countries), the Council ( 32 members appointed from constituencies of GEF members), the secretariat, 18 Agencies and a Scientific and Advisory panel ( STAP) and the Evaluation GEF assembly meets every four years to review general policies, GEF’s Operation and the membership of the facility.

GEF Council is the GEF’s main governing body and comprises 32 members ( 14 from developed countries, 16 from developing countries and2 from economics in transition) GEF secretariat is based in Washington DC. Since 1994, the World Bank has served as trustee of the GEF trust fund and provided administrative services.

Funds : GEF funding to support the project is contributed by donor countries. The financial contribution is replenished every four years by GEF 39 donor countries. Note: India is a donor country among GEF 39.  

Who gets the fund? GEF funds are available to developing countries and countries with economics in transition to meet the objectives of the international environmental conventions and agreements.

The GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) : It provides financial and technical support to communities and CSO to meet the overall objective of global environmental benefits secured through community-based initiatives.

It believes that community driven and CSO led initiatives can generate environmental benefits, while supporting sustainable livelihoods, gender, equality, and civil society empowerment.  It was launched in 1992 and presently has 125 countries. It is presently implemented by UNDP on behalf of the GEF partnership .

It has grants of up to a maximum of $50,000. In addition, the SGP provides a maximum of $ 1,50,000 first strategic projects. These larger projects, allow for scaling up and cover a large number of communities within a critical landscape or seascape.

6th GEF Assembly Summit, (June 2018 ): In Da Nang, Vietnam The assembly is held every four years. It is the GEFs highest decision making body and gathers representatives from all 183 member countries.

60th meeting of GEF council, (June 2021) : The meet adopted a work program worth USD 281.1 million focused on international waters (8 projects), biodiversity (4 projects), climate change mitigation (3 projects), and chemical and waste (2 projects)

30th meeting of the Council for the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) and special climate change fund adopted a work programme for seven projects to address climate change adaptation priorities. The LDCF Work Program involves seven LDCs, five of which are accessing the LDCF for the first time during the GEF-7 period.

Other Efforts :

REDD+

Why in the News? Uganda becomes first African country to submit REDD+ results paves way for payments (June 2020)

Need of REDD+:

• Deforestation and forest degradation account for 17% of carbon emissions, more than the entire global transportation sector and second only to the energy sector. Therefore conservation of forests can play a very crucial role in controlling climate change.

Introduction to REDD+

REDD+ is a climate change mitigation solution developed by parties to UNFCCC. It incentivises developing countries to keep their forest standing by offering results based payments for actions to reduce or remove forest carbon emissions. The idea is that developing nations should be able to financially benefit from the ecosystem services that their forests provide, such as carbon storage and as reservoirs of biodiversity.

The payment is targeted at five activities :

• Reducing Emissions from Deforestation
• Reducing emissions from forest, degradation
• Conservation of carbon stocks
• Sustainable management of forests
• Enhancement of carbon stocks.

REDD+ goes beyond simply deforestation and forest degradation and includes the role of conservation, sustainable management of forest and then management of forest carbon stocks. In 2019, Brazil became one of the first countries to receive results based aid.

In 2020, Uganda has become the first African country to submit the results for reducing emissions from deforestation and  forest degradation (REDD+) to the UNFCCC. Uganda has now become eligible for result-based payments.

REDD+ in UNFCCC  : First negotiated in UNFCCC 2000(COP-11). Adopted at COP-13 in 2007 in Bali. In 2013, CAP-19 produced at least seven decisions on REDD+, which are jointly known as –Warsaw Framework on REDD+

Finally, the remaining decisions on REDD+ were completed at COP 21 in 2015 and the UNDFCC rule book on REDD+ was completed. All countries are also encouraged to implement and support REDD+ in article 5 of the Paris agreement. This was part of the border article that specify that all the country should take action to protect and enhance greenhouse gas sinks and reservoirs (stores of sequestered carbon)

UNFCCC request all developing countries aiming to undertake REDD+ to develop the following elements I:

• A national strategy or action plan;
• A National forest reference, emission level and/ or forest reference level
• Play national forest monitoring system for monitoring and reporting on REDD+ with subnational monitoring if possible.

REDD and REDD+:

REDD originally referred to reducing emissions from deforestation in developing countries, the title of the original document on REDD. It will superseded in the negotiation by REDD+. REDD+ refers to reducing emissions from deforestation , and forest degradation in developing countries and the role of conservation , sustainable management of forest and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries. This is the most recent elaborate terminology used by COP.

India’s REDD+ strategy : The strategy has been prepared by Indian council for forestry research & education (ICFRE), DEHRADUN.

The strategy builds upon existing  national circumstances which have been updated in line with India’s National action plan on climate change , green india mission and india’s NDC to UNFCCC.

Key Focus : Cooperation and involvement of the tribals , other forest dwelling communities and the society as a whole.

Significance:

• Reiterate India’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
• It will help in conservation of forests and enhance productivity of the forest ecosystem.
• REDD+ strategy will help India fulfil its NDC commitments and contribute to the livelihood of the forest dependent population.
• The UN REDD program (the UN collaborative program on reducing emission from deforestation and degradation in a developing countries)
• It is a multilateral body which partners with developing countries by assisting them to develop the capacities needed to meet the UNFCCC REDD+ requirements
• It does so through a country based approach that provides advisory and technical support services tailored to national circumstances and needs.
• It is a collaborative initiative of FAO, UNDP and UNEP. It also harnesses technical expertise of other UN agencies.

CENTRAL AFRICAN FOREST INITIATIVE (CAFI)

Why in the news? Gabon becomes the first African Country to get paid for protecting its forests.

CAFI was founded in 2015 as a collaborative agreement between six Central African Countries – the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon and six financial partners: the European Union, France, Norway, Germany, South Korea and the Netherlands.

It is based around the REDD+ mechanism developed by the parties to the UNFCCC. Gabon became the first African country to get paid for protecting its forests.

In 2019, Norway had committed to pay $150 million to Gabon to protect its forests under the CAFI. After independent verification of the country’s deforestation rates in 2016 and 2017, Gabon recently received its first $17 million payment. This has made it the first African country to receive a result based payment for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)