Climate finance progress report improves on transparency, reveals sluggishness of rich countries’ progress in meeting obligations

For immediate release.

Unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe Territories [OTTAWA], 28 October 2022:

Today’s Delivery Plan Progress Report released by Canada and Germany exposes the disparities in developed countries’ climate finance efforts. The progress report creates an opportunity to ensure that no wealthy country escapes its obligations ahead of COP27.

Developed countries are still failing to meet their commitment to mobilize US$100 billion in climate finance annually for developing countries, a promise made over a decade ago that was meant to be fulfilled by 2020. The Progress Report reiterates that countries are committed to meeting the goal “as soon as possible and through to 2025.”

“Ahead of COP27, Germany and Canada use this progress report to expose the unequal and unjust level of engagement of developed countries to fulfill their collective US$100 billion obligation,” said Eddy Pérez, International Climate Diplomacy Director, Climate Action Network Canada. “The transparency in this report is a welcome effort, and it’s not enough. At a time when developing countries urgently need resources to invest in clean energy systems and build resilience to climate impacts, rich nations are spending their energies on escaping their obligations. They must shift course and do their part because they are putting the success of COP27 and their own credibility at risk.”

“It is a shameful betrayal that rich nations continue to be chronic defaulters on their climate finance pledges,” said Tasneem Essop, Executive Director, Climate Action Network International. “This is money they owe to developing countries as part of the $100bn promised more than a decade ago. This report today exposes the lack of political will, the lack of international cooperation and solidarity to truly address the climate crisis, which is now deeply entwined with a debt crisis in many developing countries pushing them further into poverty and economic precarity. Real ambition, real climate action hinges on ensuring that rich nations pay their dues in the form of grants in a manner that is additional, transparent, accountable and predictable.”

Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault and Germany’s State Secretary Jennifer Morgan are using this report to tackle the lack of individual transparency and accountability that has blocked progress on climate finance for years.

It reveals, for instance, that countries like Portugal and Luxembourg have no adaptation finance target, even though last year’s Glasgow Climate Pact included an urgent call to double adaptation finance by 2025. France, an important climate finance contributor, only provides a third of its climate finance for adaptation. Many Multilateral Development Banks, which are significant sources of climate finance, also lack an adaptation finance target, which shows their lack of commitment to adaptation action. At COP27, countries must agree on a delivery plan for meeting the goal to reach US $40 billion in adaptation finance by 2025.

The report also presents multiple initiatives that aim at increasing momentum, but also at fixing specific issues related to access and to private sector mobilization. It acknowledges the failures of private finance mobilization, and commits to commissioning a study on lessons learned. These failures raise the alarm for the way forward. At COP27, developed countries must commit to fulfilling the pledge using only public resources, or else uncertainty and delay will continue to plague climate finance efforts.

With this report, Minister Guilbeault and State Secretary Morgan are setting expectations for COP27 to set out a full package on finance, linking efforts to meet the 100 billion goal with the much-needed attention to loss and damage finance, the establishment of a post-2025 goal, and the shifting of financial flows away from fossil fuels. This comprehensive approach is critical – but it will only be possible if developed countries step up, stop dodging scrutiny, and work to rebuild trust with developing countries.

-30-