BANGKOK, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Several big international funds, including the U.N. Green Climate Fund, are trying to dole out billions of dollars to countries and communities to help them tackle climate change by adapting to extreme weather and adopting renewable energy.
But most government officials and smaller institutions simply do not know how to access this money, experts say. Meeting the funds’ conditions is often laborious.
“There’s lots of money out there for climate change, but countries are having real difficulty in accessing it,” said Peter King, Bangkok-based senior policy adviser for the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES).
One of the most challenging issues is getting accredited to a fund, to be eligible for its grants and loans.
King said this was so difficult because tough accreditation rules apply to national and local-level agencies too.
“They’re looking for the same level of fiduciary responsibility and fiscal management as they ask of the Asian Development Bank,” he said.
High standards are needed to ensure the money is spent well and in line with funds’ policies on gender equality, for example. But extra support is needed for many developing countries to be able to meet those requirements.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF), which has collected pledges of around $10 billion and aims to commit $2.5 billion this year, wants to support smaller-scale projects, and provide direct access to its resources for developing-world banks, ministries and local agencies.
But those organisations are put off by the accreditation process, the GCF’s mitigation coordinator Youssef Arfaoui said after a presentation for climate experts in Bangkok this week.
“We have been saying to all these countries, if you need assistance to get accredited, we have colleagues, consulting companies, assisting them to get through accreditation,” said Arfaoui, who used to work with the African Development Bank.
“We know many agencies are not used to this system. They think it’s very difficult – but it’s not actually.”
In meetings with officials about their climate change action plans, Arfaoui watches out for projects in their pipeline so he can discuss how the GCF could help with their financing needs.
The GCF has what it calls a “readiness” programme, with $30 million available to help countries prepare to access its funding. So far 97 requests for support have been received, and 43 approved.
But when it comes to actual accreditation, of the 20 agencies that have the green light so far, the majority are regional, international and U.N. organisations.
