Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 48
48
The UK is a top contributor to the four multilateral climate funds including the GCF.102...
Conclusion
The UK is a top contributor to the four multilateral climate funds including the GCF.102 As such, it has influence on their policies and procedures. The UK was also instrumental in the establishment of the Least Developed Countries Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR), whose goal is to channel 70% of climate finance directly to 94 Q41 [Gebru Jember] 95 British Red Cross (CDC0028) 96 Q41 – Q44 [Gebru Jember, Questions 41 to 44] 97 Q31 [Julius Ng’oma] 98 Q31 [Julius Ng’oma] 99 Q45 [Eileen Mairena Cunningham] 100 Q45 [Eileen Mairena Cunningham] 101 Q48 [Eileen Mairena Cunningham] 102 Of the estimated £21.4 billion held by the four main multilateral climate funds - the Adaptation Fund, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the UK is responsible for almost one-eighth of all pledges made by donor countries. Source: International Development Committee calculations (as of 8 October 2021). 20 Global Britain in demand: UK climate action and international development around COP26 local levels in LDCs.103 Yet, we heard that the UK had only provided funding to LIFE-AR on an annual basis to date, as opposed to the 10-year partnership funding requested by the LDC Group.104
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
While the amount of available climate finance is increasing, current mechanisms for accessing climate finance are often slow, complex, resource intensive, uncertain, and project based. Insufficient coherence also leaves developing countries unable to access or utilise the support they need on climate action and sustainable development, offering a piecemeal response to partner countries’ needs. At the Climate and Development Ministerial, convened by the UK COP26 Presidency on 31 March 2021, participants recognised the urgent need to streamline access to climate finance, with greater individual and collective action required both before and following COP26. The Taskforce on Access to Climate Finance was created in response to these longstanding calls for reform from developing countries. Co-chaired by Fiji and the UK, the Taskforce aims to transform the way climate finance is accessed through the implementation of a new approach, to ensure countries and communities get the climate finance they need faster, in alignment with their own plans and priorities, and supported by coherent, programmatic finance from multilateral and bilateral partners. At COP26 the Taskforce published a set of Principles and Recommendations underpinning this approach: https://ukcop26.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Principles-and- Recommendations-on-Access-to-Climate-Finance.pdf. These address a range of issues raised by LDCs and SIDS, including at the Climate and Development Ministerial, such as streamlining and simplifying accreditation, approval and reporting procedures, aligning support behind partner countries’ own national climate action priorities and strengthening the capacity of partner country institutions. Also announced at COP26 were five pioneer countries—Bangladesh, Fiji, Jamaica, Rwanda and Uganda—who will trial the new approach in cooperation with providers of climate finance. The UK has committed £100m to support implementation of the new approach set out in the Principles and Recommendations, and we encourage other providers and recipients to join us in applying this approach and learning from it. The UK also strongly supports measures to improve LDC and SIDS’ access to climate finance through the multilateral climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund (GCF). As noted in Lord Goldsmith’s letter to the Committee following his oral evidence session, the GCF developed its Simplified Approvals Process (SAP) to reduce the time and effort needed in the preparation, review, approval and disbursement procedures for certain projects, in particular small-scale activities. Following a pilot phase, in which 23 projects for a value of $208m have been approved through the SAP (74% in LDCs/SIDS/Africa), the UK has been championing the introduction by the GCF Board of an enhanced SAP