Climate finance for Paris Agreement implementation

Our experts lead the work relating to facilitating science-based access to 1.5°C compatible climate finance, including as part of the IMPACT project. This multi-faceted project aims to strengthen the connections between the scientific assessments of climate impacts, vulnerability and adaptation to help enable access to finance and help SIDS and LDCs implement concrete projects.

This stream of work guides the development of tools for implementing countries’ priorities to ensure that they match climate funds’ investment criteria, and supports stakeholder countries in seeking out domestic and international funding opportunities for adaptation and mitigation climate finance.

Working with national governments, regional agencies and international entities, our experts, having over ten years of experience in climate finance, translate NDCs and NAPs into implementation concepts that have strong synergies with sustainable development. Our focus is to ensure that funding proposals put forward by our stakeholders are country-owned, innovative, Paris-compatible and truly transformational in nature, while meeting criteria for accessing international climate financing and leverage private sector investment opportunities.

Our experts also work with accredited entities, governments and private sector actors to deepen their understanding on what makes an impactful climate project and help strengthening the scientific and technical robustness of project ideas and concept, through climate change impacts projections, assessment of project mitigation potentials, organization of structured stakeholders consultations

Climate Finance Readiness

As developing countries translate their climate adaptation and mitigation targets and ambition into strategies and concrete project ideas, one of the biggest barriers they face is accessing international climate finance. Our experts work with capacity-constrained developing countries, including through the Green Climate Fund’s (GCF) Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme, to strengthen their institutional capacities and convert countries’ priorities into pipelines of bankable and impactful projects through the development of GCF country programmes and concept notes.

Building on our long-standing relationships with Small Island Developing States across the Caribbean, and with developing countries in Africa, in 2018, we have started to assist a number of countries as part of the GCF’s Readiness Programme. Our work has been aimed at strengthening institutional capacity in countries and developing strategic frameworks that enhance ownership. Our team support ministries, National Designated Authorities, direct access entities and other key stakeholders in developing tailored procedures and mechanisms to access the GCF, strategise and mobilise climate finance and building lasting capacity through tools and trainings with the ultimate goal of developing robust national or regional project concepts to unlock climate finance and leverage private investment.

To date our experts in the New York branch have been working in Grenada, Saint Lucia, Jamaica and Tunisia.

Strategies for financing National Adaptation Plans

The success of a national adaptation plan (NAP) requires the mobilisation of both public and private finance from national and international sources. However, the imbalance between mitigation and adaptation funding and investment attests of the remaining challenges to mobilise the private sector for adaptation and resilience building. Since late 2018, our implementation experts have been working with countries and key economic actors on new projects to device financing strategies for NAPs and private sector engagement strategies, including the preparation of concepts for Public Private Partnership concepts.

Our experts based the financing strategies on an assessment of past flows and current public and private sources of climate financing available both domestically and internationally, their investment criteria and focal areas. By organising and prioritising existing NAP priorities and project ideas, CA matches them with the most appropriate funding sources and identifies next steps in unlocking their potential. Tailored to the national context, our experts conduct sector mapping and develop action plans with concrete measures to ensure continued engagement and dialogue to ensure mainstreaming of adaptation in businesses operations and planning and generate partnership and innovative ideas.

We are currently working on related strategies for Saint Lucia and Ghana.