climate change
Deal or
no deal
– developing countries aren’t
waiting “Although developing countries urgently need a global deal on climate change, they’re not waiting for it,” said Andrew Steer, the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change ahead of the UN Climate Conference in Cancun. Steer told reporters ahead of the conference that a “silent revolution” is going on in terms of developing countries taking action. “We are struck month by month by how much innovation is going on. Over the last two years, 80% of World Bank client countries have asked that climate change must be one of the pillars we work with them on. This is up from about 10% ten years ago,” said Steer.
already operating in 43 countries. Funds allocation and implementation is well underway and the 50/50 governance structure (between developing and developed countries) is exactly what Copenhagen called for,” said Steer. “No one expects a comprehensive deal in Cancun, but progress can be made, and is being made on key building blocks toward that eventual goal. Cancun won’t be the “slam dunk” the world is looking for, but it will certainly move the ball forward and that’s what we need to do,” concludes Steer. Landmark climate finance website launched at COP16
“This is money they could be using for other things, but countries are choosing to use it for adaptation and to acquire clean technology,” said Steer. Action on soil carbon According to Steer, action on soil carbon is an opportunity to transform agriculture from a climate change problem into a solution. “Farmers are under threat from climate change, but they could also play a major role in addressing it,” said Steer. The World Bank is working with a range of partners to launch a roadmap for action on agriculture in Cancun. Other activities that the World Bank is involved in include new efforts to help developing countries develop their own carbon markets and launching a new renewable energy-initiative for small island developing states.
“Vulnerable small islands should be at the front of the queue when it comes to accessing affordable renewable energy,” said Steer. “Vulnerable small islands should be at the front of the queue when it comes to accessing affordable renewable energy,” said Steer. Steer said he hopes a process will be launched and lessons learned from existing climate change funds to aid the design of the new Green Fund. “The US$6-billion Climate Investment Funds are just two years old and are
16
25 o in Africa
To help developing countries make sense of the multitude of funds and instruments available for climate finance a landmark website, www.climatefinanceoptions.org, was launched at COP16. The World Bank and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) jointly developed this webbased platform, which they hope will become the go-to site for developing countries looking to identify sources of funding to combat climate change. “Accessing finance from the growing number of climate funds – all with different criteria and requirements – is a complex and time-consuming business for many developing countries. This website disentangles the spaghetti, providing user-friendly information that will help officials, NGOs and entrepreneurs to tap into finance with a minimum of fuss,” said Steer. “Developing countries often face an information gap as they search around for funds to support their climate change development needs. These needs are demanding increasingly enormous amounts of financial flows – as much as US$100-billion for adaptation and US$175-billion for mitigation per year in developing countries by 2030. Many developing countries are already taking action from their own scarce resources,” the World Bank said in a statement. The website www.climatefinanceoptions.org documents and analyses the types of funds available, how much is available for what, the criteria for assessment as well as how the funds are governed and administered. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org, to which full acknowledgement and thanks are given.