DSA Webinar on climate and development finance
Finding synergies – aligning climate and development finance to reduce poverty and emissions. November 8th 2023: 12:30 pm, UK
There is a misconception that climate action inevitably entails a trade-off with economic development and that lower income-countries should instead focus on poverty reduction. However, it is becoming clear that inaction on climate change undermines and sets back inclusive development and the fight against poverty, and that action on climate change, when structured well, provides considerable benefits and opportunities.
Climate finance is supposed to be “new and additional” finance under the UNFCCC, although the term has never been clearly defined and in reality it is difficult to separate climate finance and development finance. What really matters is overall effectiveness and scaling up.
- How can development and climate finance systems better align to be more effective?
- Are there opportunities for climate and development actors to work together?
- What reforms of the financial architecture need to take place to allow development priorities to align with climate action.
Our panellists will discuss these questions and more.
This webinar will also be suitable for development practitioners and researchers who may be new to climate finance and wish to deepen understanding of the issues around it.
Panellists:
- Leia Achampong, Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer, Climate Finance, Eurodad. Leia Achampong is a climate justice and women’s rights activist and has a Masters degree in Sustainability Sciences and Policy from Maastricht University. With over 10 years experience, Achampong has a background in research, policy analysis and advocacy on climate change issues. Achampong’s current research focus is on the best ways to strengthen financial mechanisms to make them more equitable and to increase the quality of climate finance. Presently, Achampong works at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) and leads the work on climate finance and climate justice, while also volunteering for the Loss and Damage Collaboration in a personal capacity. Prior to this, Achampong worked at the WWF – European Policy Office, Climate Action Network – Europe, and Campaign Against Climate Change.
- Binyam Gebreyes, IIED: Binyam is an experienced UNFCCC negotiator and currently co-coordinates negotiations on the adaptation theme on behalf of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group. He has also worked for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Ethiopia serving as an environmental law expert.
- Charra Tesfaye: Charra is the Associate Director, Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations. Prior to this he was Senior Associate in Climate and Trade in the Clean Economy Programme at E3G, building up their work on aligning trade and climate policy in the UK and the EU. His areas of interest are the intersection between climate policy and trade, transition to clean economy, just transitions and climate finance. Charra is also interested in bringing perspectives from the developing world into climate change, international trade, and international diplomacy discussions.
- Will Worley: Will is the new policy reporter / editor at The New Humanitarian and former Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He has also worked as a UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards.
Moderated by:
- Annalisa Prizzon is a Principal Research Fellow at the global affairs’ think tank ODI. She has been researching and advising governments and multilateral agencies on policies for the allocation, effectiveness and architecture of international public finance. Annalisa is a Council member of the Development Studies Association, co-editor of Development Policy Review and member of the Committee for Development Policy. Read more about Annalisa.