Climate finance
pledged through multilateral climate funds fell by 71% in the last year
according to figures released today by leading global think tank the Overseas
Development Institute in collaboration with the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The
figures are taken from the world’s only comprehensive public climate finance commitment
tracker, Climate Funds Update.
According to lead climate finance analyst Smita Nakhooda the
sharp drop in pledges is caused, in part, by slow progress in agreeing the
remit of the Green Climate Fund, a global pot which is intended to become the
main channel through which money to combat dangerous climate change is
delivered to developing countries.
Ms Nakhooda said:
“We’ve seen a sharp decline in commitments coming through multilateral funds. We need to get the Green Climate Fund to move from a good idea in theory to a game-changer in practice.This decline is in spite of the leadership of the European Union in supporting multilateral approaches to delivering climate finance.”The annual analysis in ‘10 things to know about climate
finance’ suggests that investment in climate related activities has plateaued
since the end of the Fast Start Finance period when countries exceeded their
commitment to deliver US$ 30 billion by US$ 5 billion. The need for clarity on
how developed countries will scale up their delivery of climate finance has
been a central issue at the COP in Warsaw so far, and it is hoped that the High
Level Ministerial on Climate Finance on Wednesday will result in some concrete
commitments and decisions.
The report contains a number of significant statistics that
put the modest scale of climate finance delivered to date in context, given efforts
to scale up climate finance commitments in Warsaw this week. These include:
- Poland spends almost as much subsidising the use of fossil fuels each year as multilateral climate funds spent in 2013 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries by financing activities such as improved energy efficiency, renewable energy, or sustainable transport.
- Germany had to spend four times more money responding to floods in May 2013 than global adaptation funds spent since 2003 to help developing countries deal with climate change.
- Total fast start finance reflects just 1.76% of what was spent to respond to the 2008 financial crisis.
Ms Nakhooda added:
“Governments
deserve credit for meeting their commitments in times of austerity. But the
real challenge is to re-orient global investment flows to support climate
compatible development, to reduce emissions and strengthen our resilience to
the impacts of climate change that we are already feeling. We’re subsidising
fossil fuels on a massive scale. Without a change we risk wiping out the last
few decades of progress in reducing poverty.”