COP26 as an opportunity to further democratise the Green Climate Fund
Authors: Jessica Omukuti, Robert Marchant, Piran C L White
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2021)

With climate finance being top of the agenda at the UN 26th Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow (UK), actors from the Global South (ie, countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, most of which are low-income and middle-income countries) emphasise that access to climate finance should be a key component of COP26 discussions. A ministerial meeting convened by the COP26 Presidency (assumed by the UK) in March, 2021, highlighted the urgent need for countries in the Global South to have access to climate finance to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. Ministerial representatives from countries in the Global South “recognised that whilst the amount of climate finance was increasing, there were barriers to accessing the finance needed to support the delivery of climate action and sustainable development…[specifically from multilateral] climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund”.1UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021Climate & development ministerial chair's summary.https://ukcop26.org/climate-development-ministerial-chairs-summary/Date: April 1, 2021Date accessed: May 24, 2021Google Scholar In response to requests from countries in the Global South, the COP26 Presidency, in partnership with Fiji, created a Taskforce on Access to Finance, initially aimed at “deliver[ing] a step change in access to finance for climate action by delivering a new, programmatic approach to support partners’ climate action plans”.2UK GovernmentTaskforce on access to climate finance: draft concept note.https://2nsbq1gn1rl23zol93eyrccj-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Taskforce-on-Access-to-Climate-Finance-Draft-Concept-Note-May-2021.pdfDate: May, 2021Date accessed: May 24, 2021Google Scholar Considering the Taskforce's developing workplan, we argue that policies and modalities on access to finance from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) should be discussed alongside debates on transparency and accountability to ensure that climate finance is democratised. Multilateral climate finance mechanisms of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, such as the GCF, are crucial to the achievement of the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1·5°C and supporting countries and communities that are particularly vulnerable to climate change to adapt. It is expected that the US$100 billion per year commitment by high-income countries will be realised and channelled through these multilateral climate finance mechanisms, whose allocation of finance is guided by the needs of countries in the Global South. The GCF is currently the largest dedicated climate finance mechanism. Public finance is the GCF's primary source of finance, with governments of high-income countries having so far pledged US$17·5 billion to the GCF.3Green Climate FundAbout us: resource mobilisation.https://www.greenclimate.fund/about/resource-mobilisation/irmDate: 2021Date accessed: May 21, 2021Google Scholar The GCF also generates funds from its accredited entity partners through cofinancing. By December, 2020, each US$1 of GCF direct finance invested had generated US$2·4 in cofinancing, thus valuing approved adaptation and mitigation projects at US$21·2 billion (as of November, 2020).4Green Climate FundStatus of the GCF portfolio: approved projects and fulfilment of conditions.https://www.greenclimate.fund/document/gcf-b27-inf03Date: 2020Date accessed: May 21, 2021Google Scholar As of November, 2020, standalone mitigation projects (ie, those that generate emission reduction benefits only) and cross-cutting projects (ie, those that generate both adaptation and mitigation benefits) accounted for 89% of total cofinancing.5Grüning C Pauw WP Zamarioli L Mobilising public and private co-finance.https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/394446Date accessed: May 21, 2021Google Scholar However, standalone adaptation projects (ie, those that generate adaptation benefits only) received 11% of total cofinancing, all of which originated from public international and domestic sources,5Grüning C Pauw WP Zamarioli L Mobilising public and private co-finance.https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/394446Date accessed: May 21, 2021Google Scholar thus making GCF's adaptation portfolio mainly public finance-based. The effects of climate change on different communities across the world, particularly those in the Global South, and the urgency of action required to meet the Paris Agreement goal, makes all climate action a public concern. The public-finance-dependent nature of the GCF adaptation portfolio necessitates its democratisation,6Stevenson H Dryzek JS The discursive democratisation of global climate governance.Env Polit. 2012; 21: 189-210Crossref Scopus (89) Google Scholar which can be achieved through transparency and accountability where “citizens in contributing and recipient countries have a right and an obligation to be informed about and involved in how public money is utilized to address climate change”.7Schalatek L Democratizing climate finance governance and the public funding of climate action.Democratization. 2012; 19: 951-973Crossref Scopus (14) Google Scholar Democratisation of climate finance enables procedural climate justice, which ensures that those who contribute to generating adaptation finance and those benefiting from it are involved in determining what the financing achieves. Democratisation also improves the effectiveness and efficiency of adaptation finance, as public oversight puts pressure on those delivering this finance to ensure that this money reduces vulnerability and strengthens the capacity to adapt to climate change.8Tanner T Zaman RU Acharya S Gogoi E Bahadur A Influencing resilience: the role of policy entrepreneurs in mainstreaming climate adaptation.Disasters. 2019; 43: S388-S411Crossref PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar Transparency in climate finance involves publicly providing information on the sources of climate finance, how it is channelled and delivered to countries in the Global South, and how this finance is used. Accountability involves assignment of responsibility for addressing climate change through adaptation and ensuring that the intended goals of adaptation finance are achieved and that local impact happens.9Gupta A van Asselt H Transparency in multilateral climate politics: furthering (or distracting from) accountability?.Regul Gov. 2019; 13: 18-34Crossref Scopus (26) Google Scholar The work of the Taskforce in the run up to, and after, COP26 represents the beginning of a long process that must culminate in improved access to climate finance by countries and actors in the Global South and ultimately local adaptation mechanisms being in place to deal with the climate emergency. However, the focus on the financing and functioning of the GCF also presents an opportunity for actors globally to demand that the GCF demonstrates increased transparency and accountability. Public pressure, leveraged by different actors, such as the Civil Society, is a useful strategy that can influence decision making on specific policy issues relating to climate change, including policies on how accountability and transparency should be structured.10Rietig K The power of strategy: environmental NGO influence in international climate negotiations.Glob Gov. 2016; 22: 269-288Crossref Scopus (16) Google Scholar One source of public pressure for the GCF is through the GCF's Board. Board members would need to request the GCF secretariat to publish detailed accounts of how finance allocated to adaptation is spent and how this achieves its aims. To fulfil this requirement, the GCF would in turn need to work with accredited entities and other partners that are implementing approved projects, such as community based organisations, non-governmental organisations, and government institutions, to generate detailed reports of how approved adaptation finance is used and the outcomes from these investments. However, caution should be taken not to burden actors from low-income and middle-income countries with these requirements for transparency and accountability (eg, through excessive reporting procedures), especially actors at the local level. It is only through this greater transparency and accountability that lessons can be learned and new foci of financing adaptation that is more aligned with the emerging local realities of the climate emergency are developed. We declare no competing interests. JO gratefully acknowledges financial support from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council through the Place-Based Climate Action Network (grant number ES/S008381/1).