© 2012 Economic Commission for Africa
Africa wants clear climate finance benchmarks to ensure transparency, accountability
DURBAN, South Africa, 29 November 2011 (ECA) – The African Group of Negotiators today made a strong argument for the need to have agreed benchmarks on climate finance, so as to foster transparency and accountability in the way the money is provided and used, according a new report released on the sidelines of the COP17 that began here yesterday.
The report presents up-to-date figures on the current provision of climate finance for Africa and reveals the abysmally low levels of delivering on global climate change finance promises, according to the Information and Communication Service of ECA.
Researched and written for the African Group of Negotiators by the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the report also shows that current finance available for Africa and other developing countries under the fast-start finance is not commensurate to the scale required to implement the activities agreed to in the UN climate convention.
For example, the report points to the $29.2 billion pledged since 2009, and states that only between $2.8 and $7.0 billion is “new”
or not previously pledged. This means that the total amount of funds that are both ”new” and “additional”, that is on top of aid budgets, would be less than $2 billion, it states.
While 97% of the promised $30 billion has been pledged, only 45% has been “committed”, 33% has been allocated, while a mere 7% has actually been disbursed, the report further reveals.
Finance is being directed toward mitigation projects over adaptation projects, and instead of seeking a minimum of balance,
“around 62% of the money has been poured into mitigation and only 25% is earmarked for adaptation and 13% for REDD+
(forestry, which should count as mitigation), the report states.
It points to several lessons that can be learnt from the current ‘fast start finance’ system, which was supposed to deliver $30 billion in “new and additional” funding to developing countries, as agreed upon at the Copenhagen climate conference (COP15) in 2009.
Launching the report, Yacob Mulugetta, Senior Energy and Climate Specialist at the ACPC said that “the experience with the “fast- start” pledges and discussions of the $100 billion promise suggests that the adequacy and predictability of climate finance may remain very uncertain if the future climate finance architecture reflects current practice.
“African countries, as well as many other developing countries, are vulnerable to climate change and are among those least likely to have the resources required to withstand its adverse impacts. Yet, there has not been any indication that the magnitude of climate finance will get to the level of what is needed”, Seyni Nafo, Spokesperson of the African Group bemoaned.
He pressed the case for long-term climate finance to be made more accountable and transparent, adding that “in Africa, we need to know how much is new, where it is coming from, and whether it will be directed towards adaptation projects that are desperately needed in Africa.”
The African Group is the group of 53 African countries represented in the UN climate change negotiations. It is chaired by Mr. Tosi Mpanu Mpanu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Issued by the Information and Communication Service of ECA P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: 251 11 5445098 Fax: +251 11 5510365 E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org Web: www.uneca.org Related Articles
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