UNDP publish guidebook to aid developing countries with climate funding

The United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) has announced the launch of a principle set of guidelines for developing countries to make the most of funding earmarked for mitigating climate change.

“It's astounding, considering how much money is on the table - there is a real difference in what countries are collecting these funds and what countries are being able to access these funds,” the author of the UNDP guide book, Cassie Flynn, told Chinese news agency Xinhua.

The UNDP publication, ‘Blending Climate Finance through National Climate Funds’, provides a platform for key policy makers, economists and investors on how best to use globally promised funds to their advantage. The publication also highlights the individual policies that need to be implemented by certain countries and how to prioritise funding accordingly, referring to the successful past models used in countries such as China, Brazil and Bangladesh.

Investment in the clean energy sector rose by 30 percent to US$243 billion between 2009 and 2010, according to the UNDP. However, only 10 percent of this funding went to countries outside of the Group of twenty nations (G20). The guidebook focuses strongly on this problem and the fact that non G20 nations are the countries most susceptible to climate variations.

Despite this climate funding projects are at an all time high and at COP 16 in Cancun last year, world leaders pledged $30 billion dollars to ‘fast funding’ climate funds between 2010 and 2012, and an additional $100 billion each year up until 2020. “We are at a very important time right now with climate change; countries have pledged more money than ever before. It's not just about the amount of money, it's also about how the money is used and how easily it can be put to real actions on the ground,” added Flynn.

The publication recommends the idea that countries need to intensify their support of low-emission programs and the development of renewable resources, with the guidebook noting that scarce public funding will make private investment all the more crucial.

“We're giving governments a recipe on how to access more funding and how to improve management of climate change activities,” said the UNDP assistant administrator and director of development policy, Olav Kjorven in a statement on Wednesday.

“This guidebook can fundamentally change the way governments plan, finance and deliver on their climate policies," Kjorven added.