Climate Finance Inflows into the Caribbean

1. Climate Finance Inflows into the Caribbean Launch of the PANOS Caribbean Online Database & Its Establishment as a Regional Hub for Climate Change Information Montego Bay, Jamaica June 19-20, 2014

2. Pledges to climate funds in 2013 are 71% lower than they were in 2012  • Nearly sixty cents out of every dollar pledged has now been approved for viable projects. • Approved spending for mitigation in the entire developing world in 2013 was only slightly higher than Poland's annual spending on fossil fuel subsidies • Funding to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation grew to a total of US$ 647 million in 2013, less than was spent on a single highway through the Amazon • Funding in response to German flood damage in 2013 was four times higher than the total sum of funding to help developing countries adapt to climate change since 2003 • Public funding has not yet attracted as much private investment as expected: for every US$1 spent between 2010 and 12, only US$0.25 of private finance had been drawn in as of the beginning of 2012 • Korea has pledged the most to the Green Climate Fund to date - US$ 40 million - ahead of all developed countries • Despite many meetings, we still don't know where Long-Term Finance - which is supposed to deliver US$ 100 billion by 2020 - will come from • Despite increasing austerity, Europe remains a leader on climate finance, providing 61% of total funds for multilateral finance to date • Total spending on Fast-Start Finance represents just 1.76% of global funding to respond to the 2008 financial crisis Source: Climate Finance Update

3. Source: Climate Funds Update

4. Source: Climate Funds Update

6. Challenges in tracking funds • Lack of data and varying metric for private vs. public flows • Collective vs. individual reporting ($100 B commitment v. UNFCCC) • Disbursements v. Commitments • Double counting

7. Inflows into the Caribbean

8. Lessons from Fast Start Finance • Thematic Areas – Mitigation continues to be a priority • Bilateral vs Multilateral – UNFCCC Funds remain underutilized • Instruments – Less reliance on grant financing • Prioritization – SIDS, LDCs and Africa remain under- served

9. Green Climate Fund (GCF) • Created in 2010 at COP-16 in Cancun • Governing Instrument was approved at COP- 17 in Durban • Governed and supervised by a 24 member Board in Songdo, South Korea • The World Bank is the Fund’s Interim Trustee • Its Operational Guidelines have just been approved

10. GCF - The Structure • Scale and Impact • To make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts to combat climate change • To promote a paradigm shift and help developing countries transform their economies and put them on a low emission and climate-resilient path. • Expected to become the main global fund for climate finance • Governance • An equal number of members from developed countries and developing countries including dedicated seats for SIDS and LDCs • Access • Recipient countries will be able to utilize direct access or access through international and regional intermediaries and implementing entities under the Fund • Allocation • Minimum floor for adaptation financing to SIDS, LDCs, Africa and other vulnerable developing countries • The allocation of resources will be balanced between adaptation and mitigation activities

11. What prevents greater uptake? • Donor focus on larger emerging economies • Burdensome access criteria • Lack of capacity and in-country expertise • Under-financing of regional priorities (adaptation) • High transaction costs • Lack of understanding of SIDS issues at the International level • Absence of a voice in decision-making in key international financial institutions

12. Sharon Lindo slindo@caribbeanclimate.bz