Christine Costelloe

Philanthropists, business leaders and state governments in the U.S. have been stepping up both financially and politically to express the continued commitment to climate action despite the government signalling its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. This week, Michael Bloomberg through his charity, Bloomberg Philanthropies, pledged US$4.5 million to cover the U.S. contribution to the UN’s climate change secretariat. His charity offered $15m to cover a separate climate change shortfall last year. Michael Bloomberg also launched the “We Are Still In” declaration and created America’s Pledge on climate change with California Governor Jerry Brown in the summer of 2017 to demonstrate that the U.S. — through the support of U.S. cities, states, businesses and other non-federal actors — can meet its pledge under the Paris Agreement. As an American living in Europe, it is fantastic to see this serious superhero activity taking place in my country of origin!

Articles about both of these funding commitments can be accessed below:

Michael R. Bloomberg provides funding for UN Climate Change Secretariat to ensure U.S. will honor Paris commitment

Bloomberg pledges $15m for climate action, says ‘Americans are not walking away’ from Paris deal

“Climate-smart finance is critical to fighting poverty and meeting development goals.”  -The World Bank

I have been reviewing literature and resources to learn all I can about climate finance. An interesting learning this week is that there is not an agreed upon definition of climate finance. However, The World Bank provides an excellent overview about climate finance and its projects to help countries adapt to a changing climate and mitigate the impacts of climate change. I discovered this useful definition of climate finance developed by The World Bank: “the flows of capital from both public and private sources that support and finance climate-smart investments and aim to achieve climate change adaptation and mitigation objectives.”

My day trip to Amsterdam along with my NUI Galway thesis advisor, Charlie Spillane, was quite an adventure and we had a very productive meeting with my CCAFS thesis co-advisors, Bruce Campbell and Anette Friis.

One of the benefits of arriving to Schiphol Airport in the spring…being surrounded by Dutch tulips…gorgeous, fresh and colorful.     

 

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the incredible fields of greenhouses I have seen in articles, such as How the Netherlands Feeds the World in National Geographic, and I was lucky enough to see a mini version from the train window.

 

Our team had a informative dialogue about CCAFS’ work and how I can support the organisation by researching new sources of climate finance for climate change, agriculture and food security research and how leveraging a collaborate partnership model may increase access to these sources of funds to the benefit of all partners involved.

I am delighted to be working with such a great group of people and on such an exciting research topic!

I am planning my journey along with my thesis supervisor Prof Charles Spillane from the National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) to the Netherlands next week. It will be my first meeting with my thesis co-supervisors, Dr Bruce Campbell and Anette Friis, from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), headquartered at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). I look forward to hearing about CCAFS research firsthand and further defining my research project to support CCAFS in advancing the organization’s goals. I will keep you posted!

Welcome to my blog! I will be adding posts at key junctures during my research project, which will examine collaborative resource mobilization for climate change, agriculture and food security. I will keep you posted!