Getting climate finance right

Successful examples for the Green Climate Fund from around the world

UN climate watchers are eager to see what projects and programs the Green Climate Fund finances out of the starting gate. The implications of the initial project pipeline are big — not only because they will set a precedent for future projects, but because they also set the stage for Paris. Ambitious, environmentally sound and socially just projects and programs will send the right signals to both developed and developing country governments that climate finance is being taken seriously by all sides. Needless to say, climate finance is a major pillar of the expected global climate agreement in Paris.

It is with this in mind that Friends of the Earth and the Institute for Policy Studies have produced a working draft of a new report, Getting Climate Finance Right: Successful examples for the Green Climate Fund from around the world. The international community has a historic opportunity to get climate finance right. Civil society groups have been clear about the kinds of adaptation and mitigation projects they don’t want the GCF to finance in developing countries. First and foremost, they don’t want money going towards the types of fossil fuel projects that have contributed to climate disruption and other negative environmental and social impacts in the past. But the question of what the GCF should support has received considerably less attention.

Fortunately, there are many positive examples to learn from. This report presents 22 climate related projects, programs, and policies that organizations from the Global South and North have identified as successful. These examples are drawn from large and small developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and are organized into four categories: adaptation, agro-ecology, adaptation/mitigation hybrids, and mitigation. We also draw out some of the common characteristics of these examples, with the hope that the GCF may incorporate these lessons into their financing strategies.

Photo credit: Children sit under solar panels in Dharnai, India. A solar-powered mini-grid is now supplying electricity to the village. © Vivek M. / Greenpeace