Klimafinanzierung

The 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) will be held from 2 to 14 December 2018 in Katowice, Poland. The task for this summit is to show that, even with political headwinds, the international community is able to respond to the increased urgency of the climate crisis. With a package of three decisions, COP24 will be a success. In this Background Paper, Germanwatch sums up its expectations towards COP24.

In this paper, we explore the Fund’s role in the future climate finance architecture, taking into account past and current debates in international climate negotiations. The paper also seeks to inform these debates, particularly discussions related to operating modalities, safeguards, and governance of the Adaptation Fund.

Together with more than 50 international NGO Germanwatch urges the central bank of the G20 states to set an example by disclosing climate related risks.

We welcome the recommendations of the EU Commission’s High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (HLEG). The HLEG’s final report represents hitherto the most comprehensive plan to systematically integrate sustainability aspects into the financial system of the European Union.

In the landmark Paris Climate Agreement, the international community committed to limit global warming to well below 2°C, if not 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. World leaders also committed to foster adaptation and to make all financial flows consistent with climate resilient, low greenhouse gas development. The G20 as group of the leading industrial nations and emerging economies, being responsible for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions, provides an important platform for joint action towards implementing the Paris Agreement.

The climate vulnerable forum (CVF), now uniting 49 of the world’s countries most vulnerable to climate change, has again taken centre-stage in the fight against global warming and for an equitable international climate regime. At the recent IMF and World Bank spring meeting in Washington, the finance ministers of the group, the Vulnerable 20 (V20), met with representatives of its “big brother”, the G20, to discuss issues related to climate finance, effective mitigation policies, support for adaptation and resilience and above all: enhanced cooperation.

It was only last year when the group of the 20 leading economies (G20) evoked hopes that it would eventually bring forward serious climate policy and climate finance. The Chinese G20 presidency had put its weight behind important agenda items in this direction and the German government promised that climate will become a priority topic under this year's German G20 presidency. However, since US president Trump took office, mood depressed. Germanwatch works with vehemence at multiple levels to ensure that the blockade strategy of the new republican US government proves to be unsuccessful.

Over December 5-6 at the Palais du Congress, the 3rd Annual Global Landscapes Forum (#GLFCOP21) was the largest other meeting in Paris during COP21, attracting close to 3,500 participants, exhibitors and speakers from across disciplines and sectors. Instead of focusing on national climate commitments, the GLF explored alternative ‘un-siloed’ approaches to land use in a warming world, and perhaps equally important, how to finance them.