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.

DSA’s recent webinar on climate and development finance demonstrated there is much to be learned and more work needed to explore the potential synergies and collaborations. The panelists brought to life the need for increased access, improved transparency and greater building of trust to create a climate for development actors to work more closely with the climate finance stakeholders.

The moment to align

Will Worley, Editor for the New Humanitarian said there is a real concern with lack of transparency in terms of what countries declare as spending on climate finance. He said there is a clear political appetite for reform of the international architecture – with initiatives such as the Bridgetown agenda gaining a lot of traction.

He added that the intersection of climate and development finance is a new focus and the development and climate community are only starting to come together. Binyam Gebyres from IIED agreed that there is a growing recognition of the synergies, especially when viewed through the lens of the SDGs (both human and environmental).

Recognising gender

Eurodad’s Leia Achampong said we need to see climate finance as only part of the solution and it needs to be of a high quality. She pointed out that middle income countries are not eligible for ODA but all countries in the global South need access to climate finance. Leia emphasized the need to see climate finance through a gender lens: it was important that climate finance supports community-based solutions and that we need to collect data on gender responsiveness of climate related ODA. She added that Public Private Partnerships have been shown to increase debt and that World Bank conditionality is also being used by other financial institutions. Some of these conditions result in austerity measures, such as cuts to public services, which impact women more.

Leia said that for development and climate actors to work together there needs to be an understanding of what different communities need for better access to climate finance. Access barriers need to be addressed e.g. the time it takes to complete applications, which are often not translated into local languages, financial exclusion (such as lack of access to bank accounts) or female exclusion when their names are not on the land deeds.

The #ClimateCrisis is indebting women & a lack of access to #Gender-responsive #ClimateFinance is exacerbating inequalities.

Greater access to climate finance & Engagement of women in decision-making is crucial!

Read more in my new paper for @UN_Women https://t.co/B3GCLAfpZo pic.twitter.com/kIScZinLaB

— Leia says (@LeiaLdn) November 8, 2023

Climate as the new trade

Charra Tesfaye is Associate Director, Climate Justice at Open Society Foundations and prior to this was Senior Associate in Climate and Trade in the Clean Economy Programme at E3G. He said that climate discussions now bring countries together, where discussion of trade mechanisms previously dominated and that the reform agenda and debt conversation has become part of the climate discussion.

Binyam added that climate adaptation is the poor version of development as it is not getting as much funding as other strands of ODA. He added that we need to think about how countries are classified, for example ensuring war-torn countries are not left behind. He reminded us that the negotiations over Loss and Damage will involve a lot of compromise especially on the part of developing countries and that funds will need to be mobilised quickly.

We’ve compiled a range of resources from our panellists and shared by the audience.

In focus: Reforming climate finance (case study for the OECD Development Co-operation Report 2023) 

Eurodad: The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) is a civil society network advocating for democratically-controlled, gender-just and human rights-based financial and economic systems:

ODI: DSA member ODI is an independent, global think tank, working to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality. Through research, convening and influencing, they generate ideas that matter for people and planet.

The New Humanitarian is the world’s leading publisher of news and analysis about humanitarian needs and responses, including extensive coverage of environmental disasters. It tells the stories of communities living on the front lines of climate change while examining how global policies and global financing affect the most vulnerable.

Some of The New Humanitarian’s recent coverage is listed below to help inform your thinking and conversations around debt justice, climate finance, and climate change’s evolving impact on communities around the world. You can stay up to date and get the latest from The New Humanitarian newsroom by signing up for a weekly newsletter, delivered directly to your inbox every Friday, and by subscribing to its podcast examining the future of crisis response, Rethinking Humanitarianism. 

The New Humanitarian

Eurodad

UNCTAD’s report on Loss and Damage: Taking responsibility: Towards a fit-for-purpose Loss and Damage Fund, Chapter 3 addresses the issue of innovative sources of finance for Loss and Damage.

ILO: A global fund for social protection: Lessons from the diverse experiences of global health, agriculture and climate funds.