Inaugural London-based workshop to help developing countries attract the finance they need to deliver national climate action plans
The Paris Agreement may have set a global goal to limit temperature increases to ‘well below’ 2C and build a net zero emission economy this century, but delivering on its ambitious targets rests on the ability of developing countries to secure finance in support of their emission reduction projects.
The risk of bold emission reduction plans faltering thanks to a lack of access to finance is made explicit in many of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted by governments around the world.
During the 2015 Paris Summit numerous emerging economy governments set out plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions or ensure they peak within the coming decades. But time and again their commitments contained a caveat detailing how their ambitious targets rested on their ability to secure international finance and support.
This week a major new initiative will launch to help address this risk and ensure that developing countries can secure the financial support and investment they require to make their NDCs a reality.
Dubbed the Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA), the new initiative will this week bring together UK climate and finance experts with government representatives from Columbia, Mexico, Nigeria and Vietnam.
The initial week long workshop will provide dedicated country teams with detailed advice on how to draw up comprehensive NDC financing plans and financing propositions for priority climate-related projects.
The sessions will be hosted by the Moroccan Presidency of the UN’s climate summit, the UK government, and the City of London’s Green Finance Initiative. It will also be supported by consultancies Ricardo Energy & Environment and PwC, and climate finance specialists and concept originators Ian Callaghan and Tessa Tennant.
Emelia Holdaway, manager for international climate change policy at Ricardo, said the scheme could help unlock the deep emissions reductions that are required to ensure the Paris Agreement’s long term targets are met.
“Converting an NDC into a project pipeline and then securing finance for those projects is a challenge that all signatories to the Paris Agreement face,” she said in a statement. “The Climate Finance Accelerator will support countries to identify priority NDC projects and generate concrete financing propositions for these – blending public, private, international and national funding. It’s an exciting approach and a unique opportunity for countries to make real progress on understanding how they can finance their NDCs.”
Callaghan said the scheme had been specifically designed to tackle one of the main barriers to the success of the Paris Agreement. “The key obstacle to finance for Paris lies in the understanding gap between policymakers and financiers,” he said. “The CFA concept is different and effective because it concentrates on the practicalities of bringing these two constituencies together and focuses on creating real-world, bankable projects while at the same time building capacity for future engagement on both sides.”
Jon Williams, partner for sustainability and climate change at PwC, said the project would also help to mobilise investment in projectes that deliver significant economic benefits. “As well as making material and actionable reductions in carbon emissions, the CFA also aims to support economic development through investment and capacity building,” he said. “A high bar perhaps, but we hope an exemplar of the ambition born in Paris.”
