for the green climate fund - Réseau Action Climat France

FAIR AND EFFICIENT GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES
FOR THE GREEN CLIMATE FUND
Initial recommendations following our 2011 workshop
The Climate & Development Network was established in 2006 by ENDA Senegal and Climate Action NetworkFrance. C&DN brings together more than 50 French-speaking and mainly African NGOs. Our members
have a long experience of climate and development projects as well as local, national and international
advocacy on climate & development policies. Furthermore, our network calls on decisions-makers to build
on the priorities of the poorest and most vulnerable communities : www.climatdeveloppement.org
From June 27th to July 1st, the Climate & E stablishing the G reen
Development Network was in Senegal for its 5th C limate F und
yearly workshop. More than 40 members came
from all over Africa and beyond: Algeria, Germany, The decision adopted in Cancun last year established
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a longstanding ask
Guinea, France, Togo, Switzeland, Mali, Morocco, by the G77+China. The Fund was created to channel
Niger, Chad, Senegal, DRC and Mauritius.
a major part of the climate funding committed after
This year’s
2012: up to 100 billion USD/year by
workshop was
2020. But creating the Fund on paper
dedicated to the
is not enough. Everything remains to be
Green Climate
done to create the relevant mechanisms,
Fund established
decide on the governance and allocation
in Cancun last
principles, as well as legal and institutional
December. The
arrangements. The Cancun decision
Fund was created
missions a Transitional Committee of
to innovate and
40 country representatives (of which 25
make up for the
The Climate & Developpement participants at the workshop
from developing countries) to design the
fragmentation,
GCF’s architecture and modalities and
inadequacy and
submit its recommendations for adoption
inefficiency of the existing international financial
in Durban this year.
architecture.
The G77 has been asking for a global fund for a
During the workshop, we identified the guiding number of years, namely because the existing funds are
principles for a fair and an efficient Green Climate considered inadequate, ineffective and unfair. Indeed,
Fund. The C&DN decided to draw from its it is a fact that most developing countries still have very
members’ ground experiences. Participants shared limited access to climate financing. COP17 in Durban
an experience with the GEF-SGF in Mauritius, an must deliver a well-designed financial architecture,
indirect financing experience with the World Bank able to generate adequate, regular and long-term
in Benin, an experience in Togo with FAO and finance; that will ensure easy access to the financing
UNPD funding, and a programme for biodiversity for the most vulnerable populations; as well as aim
financing in West Africa. Members also compared for a fair and transparent allocation of the money. It is
existing Funds to learn from existing good and therefore crucial that the Fund build on the priorities
bad practices within the Adaptation Fund and the of developing countries and their local communities.
Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria.
This is why civil society organizations should play
At the end of the week, the C&DN presented a series a major role in the transitional committee’s work or
of recommendations for the Transitional Committee there is little chance for the Fund to reform existing
and policy-makers to enhance effective and fair access governance structures. It is vital that civil society share
to climate financing for the most vulnerable.
its expertise and longstanding field experience to
sustain work by the Transitional Committee.
FAIR AND EFFICIENT GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES FOR THE GREEN CLIMATE FUND
1
Initial recommendations
The Green Fund should streamline and
harmonize the numerous existing funds with
a set of fair overarching principles.
P If the Green Fund is to fill gaps in the existing
landscape, then it should aim for a more balanced
allocation of climate financing for adaptation. This
balanced allocation would also show political will
to address needs identified by recipient countries
rather than donors.
P The Green Fund should therefore commit
50% of its resources for adaptation, and in the
form of grants.
There are currently more than 30 Funds that finance
climate change-related projects. The landscape
is fragmented and dotted with donors, agencies,
definitions, financial instruments, governance
principles and allocation criteria. Intermediaries
tend to apply rules and strategic orientations that
do not always respect national priorities and needs.
LDCs are often unable to efficiently handle this
fragmented landscape of donors and agencies and
therefore face high transaction costs, due to the
number of intermediaries involved.
The Green Fund should facilitate direct
access to funding for National Implementing
Entities and NGOs
P It is crucial to effectively organize and frame
this fragmented landscape to ensure consistency
and coherence in the strategic and financial
orientations, geographic and sectoral distribution
and priorities.
P It is useful to build on the Paris Aid Effectiveness Declaration which calls on national and
regional multi-stakeholder dialogues and coordination platforms for international financing.
After decades of Official Development Assistance,
it has become clear that strong donor involvement
in decision making and strategic orientations of
development projects and programmes leads to
inefficiencies and injustice. It is crucial that climate
finance build on these lessons learnt as well as draw
from innovative initiatives like the Global Fund or
the Adaptation Fund, and aim for country ownership
and direct access.
Adapting to climate change : a priority for the Green Fund
The Green Fund should bridge the current
adaptation gap by allocating at least 50% of
its resources to adaptation projects.
Adaptation financing amounts to a bleak 3 to 4 billion
USD per year. The gap is real when compared to
mitigation financial flows (70 billion each year of
public and private finance), when compared to the
assessed needs for adaptation (86 to 109 billion
2
according to UNDP 2007) and with regard to the
immense needs identified by developing countries.
P The Green Fund should elaborate on direct
access modalities to ensure that financing is
disbursed to the most vulnerable communities,
the most efficient projects, and with the most cobenefits.
P
The Green Fund should draw from the
Global Fund country coordination mechanisms
which bring together CSOs, government
representatives, as well as affected communities.
P The Green Fund should also help potential
national entities by building their fiduciary and
technical capacities.
In order to fund the priorities identified by
the poorest and most vulnerable countries,
political strategies should not undermine
allocation of climate finance.
In most existing funds, the political board selects
the projects. Technicians and experts only play
an advisory role. The Board tends to “negotiate”
projects instead of confronting needs and priorities.
P Projects should be selected by the secretariat
and an expert committees.
P The Green Fund should not be driven by donor
countries and fund the most efficient projects that
best address needs and priorities identified by
developing country governments and their CSOs.
multilateral development bank a major role in the
Green Fund would perpetuate a donor and loandominated system.
P
Development banks should play a limited
role in the decision-making, selection of projects
and choice of governance principles for the Green
Fund
P The Green Fund should select its permanent
trustee via a formal call for tender, with very strict
terms of reference.
The Green Fund should address the specific
vulnerabilities of women and indigenous
people
Participation and consultation : the foundation of innovative governance
The Green Fund should simplify access to
resources for LDCs.
LDCs suffering from the impacts of climate change
have very limited access to the financial resources
available. LDCs often lack capacity to answer call
for tenders, design internationally-sound projects,
ask for financing, etc.
P
The Green Fund should draw on existing
simplified processes, designed by the GEF, the
Adaptation Fund and the LDC Fund.
The Green Fund trustee should keep to a
fiduciary role only
In the Cancun decision, the interim trustee – the
World Bank – is invited to take on a purely fiduciary
role. However, the World Bank has already started
campaigning to do more than “sign checks” for
the Green Fund, and share its know-how and
principles in terms of development financing. For
many observers, the World Bank symbolizes all
the inconsistencies and gaps in the current aid
paradigm. Giving the World bank or another
Women and indigenous people are the global
communities most affected by the impacts of
climate change. They need to be given the capacity
to strengthen their resilience capacity.
P
The Green Fund should ensure balanced
representation in its decision-making processes
and functions.
P The Green Fund should also prioritize projects
which have integrated gender and indigenous
people concerns in the project’s objectives and
means, when relevant.
P The Green Fund should establish solid social
and environmental safeguards to protect both
women and indigenous people.
The Green Fund should involve civil society
representatives at each level of decisionmaking and implementation
Civil society plays a pregnant role in combating
climate change : its ideas feed into the design
of international, national and local policies and
translate into innovative and pilot approaches and
projects on the ground. Civil society organizations
can also make use of their longstanding experience
of ODA, good practices and difficulties. CSOs
reflect the diversity of stakeholders working on or
affected by climate change and development stakes:
trade-unions, local communities, concerned citizens,
environmental, aid and emergency organizations. It
is crucial to work with CSOs to catalyze stronger
FAIR AND EFFICIENT GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES FOR THE GREEN CLIMATE FUND
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ownership – and thus, effectiveness – of
actions, as well as improve transparency and
participation in tackling climate change.
International initiatives like the Global
Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria
rely more and successfully on civil society
participation.
P
The Green Fund should actively
involve CSOs in the Board and the
Standing Committee: the right to vote or
active observer rights a minima.
Women play an essential role in achieving climate resilient and low-carbon development
P
In practice, CSOs should be
involved – through transparent and
commitment? The ongoing experience of Fast-Start
regular consultations - in the secretariat,
Finance committed in Copenhagen is proof that
in the selection and implementation of projects,
assessed budget contributions alone don’t work. It
in the monitoring and evaluation of the projects.
is crucial that post-2012 climate finance rely on new,
P The Green Fund should actively involve CSOs
additional and sustainable sources of finance.
in the design and implementation of projects and
programmes. NGOs should be able to directly
P
Implement a Financial Transaction Tax to
access funding from the Green Fund, as well as
generate additional funding against climate change
actively participate in the national implementing
and poverty.
entities (similarly to the Country Coordination
P Reform international policies to decrease
Mechanism in the Global Fund).
fossil fuel subsidies and increase low-carbon and
climate-resilient investments
P Collect a levy on international maritime
The Green Fund should be replenished with
freight all the while compensating developing
new, additional and innovative sources of
countries for any impact on their economies.
financing.
P Channel revenue from the levy on air tickets
and auctioning of EU carbon quotas.
Northern governments are still far from reaching
their 0.7% GNP ODA commitment target. Why
would they do better with their climate finance
Alix MAZOUNIE
CAN France
Tel: +331 48 51 37 68
alix@rac-f.org
www.rac-f.org
4 4
Ange David Emmanuel BAIMEY
Climate & Development Network
Tel: +225 05 34 52 74
a.baimey@gmail.com
www.climatdeveloppement.org
Emmanuel SECK
ENDA
Tel: +221 33 822 24 96
ssombel@yahoo.fr
www.enda.sn