Mobilizing Just & Sufficient Finance for Climate Adaptation in Developing Countries is Necessary
Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, said that working to bridge finance and technology gaps and differences between policies and regulatory frameworks that incentivize climate action require the cooperation of all actors.
This came during his participation in the HLCs meeting with NSAs within the event of COP28 in Dubai, with the participation of Simon Stiell, UNFCCC Executive Secretary.
Mohieldin stated that it is important that NSAs play a major role in guiding climate goals towards their right paths, stressing the need for all parties to fulfill their pledges to finance climate action in developing countries and help provide technological assistance for climate projects in these countries.
Mohieldin noted that the climate finance gap worth $2.4 trillion annually, of which $1.4 trillion must be mobilized from domestic resources, praising in this context the UAE announcement of the launch of a $30 billion fund to finance climate action as a model for action that countries can do not only to finance climate activities but also contribute to capacity-building and technological support for climate projects in developing countries.
The climate champion highlighted the activation of the Loss and Damage Fund during the Dubai Conference, which is a continuation of the successes achieved by COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh in this file, and the culmination of the efforts made by the Transitional Committee for the governance of the Fund over a year, stressing that the Loss and Damage Fund that was launched during the Sharm El Sheikh conference will change the dynamics of climate action in terms of governance and financing, as well as alerting the need to strengthen efforts to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.
Mohieldin, in the same context, pointed to the success of the second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) after 29 countries made contributions of $12.4 billion to finance the fund, which is mainly aimed at financing mitigation and adaptation activities fairly in developing countries and emerging economies.
In this regard, he praised the support for the replenishment of the Fund, which he coordinated as climate champion of COP27, from the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and his working group, the Executive Secretariat of the Fund in South Korea, and Germany, which hosted the meetings of the Fund last October.
Mohieldin underlined the important role that NSAs can play to bridge the technology gap and reduce the differences between policies and regulatory frameworks that stimulate climate action in order to support climate activities in developing countries.
In another session, Mohieldin stressed the importance of mobilizing adequate and fair funding for climate adaptation activities, saying that the main areas of work of the Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda (SAA) include promising investment opportunities for the private sector and civil society.
This came during his participation in “Shaping a Climate Resilience Future Through SAA” session in COP28, with the participation of Razan Al Mubarak, Climate Champion for COP28, and Ambassador Mohamed Nasr, Lead Negotiator of COP27 Presidency.
Mohieldin said that COP28 pays great attention to investment in nature and biodiversity, which goes in line with the goals and areas of work of the Sharm El Sheikh Adaptation Agenda.
He explained that while climate finance doubled in 2021/22 from 2019/20, the share of adaptation activities of this funding fell from 7% to 5%, moreover, adaptation does not receive more than 20% of the funding provided by MDBs for climate action as a whole, which must change.
He stated that the Loss and Damage Fund, which was launched during COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh and activated during COP28 in Dubai, highlights the need to intensify work on reducing emissions and build resilience in facing climate change.
