Adaptation can be viewed as a more immediate reaction to climate change than mitigation. Countries are predicted to fall short of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degree Celsius by 2020 so the most vulnerable areas can incorporate concrete projects straightaway while developed nations and major economies hammer out emissions reduction targets over the long term.
However, financing adaptation globally is still moving at a glacial pace, and developing countries may use it as leverage in future negotiations.
Developed countries pledged $30 billion in “fast-start” finance in Copenhagen in 2009 to help developing nations tackle climate change.
While the pledges are consistent and developed countries reiterated promises to deliver the funding in Cancun in 2010, the money is being distributed at a slow trickle.
“The disbursement has not even exceeded two digits,” said Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister.
The Cancun Agreements call for the distribution in finance to be a “balanced allocation between adaptation and mitigation.” However, according to a World Resources Institute (WRI) report, there is a lack of transparency and consistency in reporting.
“The Cancun Agreements mandate more frequent reporting by developed countries using an enhanced common reporting format. While these enhanced reporting provisions will be essential for successful tracking of developed country climate financial flows, they will not be ready in time to provide guidance for reporting on the short-term, fast-start finance. At present, countries are voluntarily reporting information on their fast-start finance in an ad-hoc manner, resulting in information that is neither fully comparable, transparent, nor complete, as is demonstrated by the gaps in information in WRI’s fast-start table. While the Cancun Agreements include reporting provisions for fast-start finance, it does not provide guidance on what these reports should include.”
This not only affects adaptation efforts in developing countries, but it also affects the negotiation process as a whole. “The developing countries are seeking satisfaction from fast-start financing before going further in negotiations,” Clifford Polycarp, a senior associate at WRI, told The Washington Post.
Could “fast-start” finance be a hurdle to negotiations at this year’s Conference of Parties (COP) in Durban? It’s too soon to tell. What is clear is that outstanding issues raised around the speed and transparency of “fast-start” finance – including adaptation funding – will be among the central negotiations in November.
