Publications

The present discussion paper describes why early pledges for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are important for early action – hence a timely start of project support – of the GCF. Of course, each donor country decides for itself when it perceives a fund to be ready and sufficiently trustworthy for funding and each donor country will probably have its own set of items it wants to see addressed before it can pro-vide pledges. Nevertheless, this short discussion paper looks at the interdependence between the need for early pledging for the GCF and the necessary progress of the GCF operationalization process.

In response to the launch of the OECD "Adaptation Marker" in 2010 and the first complete Creditor Reporting System dataset published in March 2012, this paper ex-amines the credibility of the marker. Our assessment reveals that far less projects than the donor countries reported are in fact relevant to what can be considered climate change adaptation.

This policy briefing sets out a number of the issues relating to the slow onset portion of the climate change loss and damage agenda. It is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of this new and sometimes complex subject. Instead, it should serve to introduce the concept of loss and damage related to slow onset climate change hazards and provide sign posts to guide further investigation of the subject – in particular for those institutions, experts and country representatives participating in the current work programme on loss and damage under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This document outlines initial thoughts by the ‘Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative’ to provide some conceptual and framing input into the loss and damage negotiations under the UNFCCC. Given both the preliminary nature of these discussions and the complexity of the issue of loss and damage, a precise definition may not be necessary and in fact may even be counter-productive at this early stage. Instead at this point in the discussion it may be more useful provide a spectrum of relevant scientific and policy perspectives and areas of expertise in an attempt to inform ongoing dialogue.

The Loss and Damage in Vulnerable Countries Initiative is focussing on: Building an understanding of the scope and significance of loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change; Developing and co-creating an approach and vision for loss and damage among decision makers and relevant stakeholders; Assisting least developed countries (LDCs) and other vulnerable countries to develop a coherent approach to the loss and damage debate; Identifying and beginning to take the steps needed to support a paradigm shift on loss and damage in the coming years.

Delegates to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, also known as Rio+20, acknowledged that climate change is a cross-cutting and persistent crisis. They expressed great concern that the scale and gravity of the negative impacts of climate change affect all countries and undermine their ability, in particular developing countries, to achieve sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals and threaten the viability and survival of nations.