Through my research on climate finance I’ve learned that although the aim is to finance climate change adaptation and mitigation equally, mitigation has been the primary beneficiary of climate finance to date. However, times are changing, I hope, if the the good news reported for adaptation financing in July is any indication of a positive trend! According to the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Adaptation Fund (AF), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), the West African Development Bank (WADB) and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) all funded climate change adaptation projects in July.
These included: 1) the AF investments in a South-South cooperation readiness support package (includes a US$100,000 grant to enhance access to climate finance) and an additional US$35 million for four new climate change adaptation projects across Latin America, West Africa and Asia; 2) the CAF’s US$2.4 million project in Ecuador to strengthen adaptive capacity of local populations in the Toachi-Pilatón watershed and another US$13.9 million in a regional investment for a project in Chile and Ecuador to reduce climate vulnerability in urban and semi-urban areas in three coastal cities; 3) the WADB’s US$14 million regional project in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger and Togo to promote climate-smart agriculture, disseminate innovative and regional agricultural best practices and knowledge; and 4) a UN-Habitat In Mongolia US$4.5 million project in Ulaanbaatar to enhance climate resilience to flooding in seven vulnerable nomadic tent settlements.
More information about these climate change adaptation investments can be found here.