Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 62
62
We believe that the current level of ICF is fundamentally over-reported, reducing the credibility of...
Recommendation
We believe that the current level of ICF is fundamentally over-reported, reducing the credibility of declarations and scope for achieving climate adaptation and resilience. We are calling for full transparency in the reporting of climate finance to enhance the ability of third parties to track funding from start to finish. To reach the UK-backed goal of channelling 70% of climate finance directly to local communities, we urge the FCDO to report in full transparency how much climate finance is reaching the local level through its main reporting channels—such as the UK’s Development Tracker and the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)—and to encourage other donors to do the same. Further, the UK Government should host regular meetings between fund- recipient institutions from LDCs and SIDS, bilateral and multilateral donors during its COP presidency to devise a functional definition of climate finance as well as a clearer definition of the term ‘new and additional’ for use by donors. The Government should provide a progress report by 31 March 2022 . 130 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (CDC0048) 131 E3G, 2021 Climate and Development Agenda Stocktake, pp.5–6, 17 September 2021 132 CARE International, Hollow Commitments: An Analysis of developed countries’ climate finance plans, p.15, 1 June 2021 133 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (CDC0016) 134 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (CDC0016) 24 Global Britain in demand: UK climate action and international development around COP26 4 Reinforcing policy coherence across UK climate action Fossil fuel policy The best thing you can do for us is to cut your emissions […]. H.E. Ms Diann Black-Layne, Lead Negotiator on Climate Change, Alliance of Small Island States135
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
The UK recognises that developing countries need transparency and predictability about what our own and other donors’ commitments mean for the $100bn goal and what aggregate levels of climate finance will be delivered in the coming years. That is why the UK published a list of climate finance donors’ commitments in advance of COP26 and why the COP President asked Ministers from Germany and Canada to produce a Delivery Plan for how, together, developed countries will deliver the $100bn commitment. This was published on 25 October. At COP26 it was agreed that the UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance would also report in 2022 on progress towards the $100bn, allowing for further clarity and transparency on climate finance flows. The UK is committed to a robust approach for reporting its own climate finance and will continue to encourage other donors to do so within their pledges made on future climate finance. We will support initiatives led by international organisations such as the OECD and UNFCCC in better defining climate finance. For example, the UK played a leading role in securing commitments on transparency as part of the OECD-DAC declaration in October 2021 on a new approach to align development co-operation with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change: https://www.oecd.org/dac/development-assistance-committee/dac-declaration-climate- cop26.htm. This declaration states that by the end of 2022 DAC members will: • Be more transparent in how we track our development and climate finance and the amount of climate-related development finance; • Review the DAC’s relevant statistical reporting and data sharing processes to make them more accessible to developing countries and more easily understood; • Enhance the compatibility of DAC data, national databases and aid transparency initiatives; • Harmonise DAC members’ reporting in our Creditor Reporting System (CRS), especially with regard to the Rio markers; • Develop a method for the CRS to measure specifically donor efforts on sustainable energy transition, in recognition of the importance of supporting transitions in sustainable development. The UK includes country level information, where this is available, in its UNFCCC reporting, and in its ODA data provided to the OECD. The UK government’s Development Tracker website now has an ICF tag which will identify programmes containing climate finance, provide country level information if available, as well as more detailed programme documentation such as business cases and annual reviews. The Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), finalised at COP26, is a reporting framework through which Parties to the Paris Agreement will share data on all elements of the Paris Agreement. This includes a suite of tables to capture information on financial, technology development and transfer and capacity-building support provided