Page 11 - AsiaElec Week 39 2021

AsiaElec CLIMATE FINANCE AsiaElec

Asia’s poor call for rich states to

keep their $100bn funding promises

ASIA A group of 11 of Asia’s poorest countries have gap of funding for adaptation and resilience as
called on the world’s richest states to keep to their our countries suffer on the front line,” the 11
promise of $100bn per year in climate finance in countries said in their statement.
order to protect some of the world’s most vul- Asia’s most vulnerable countries, which are
nerable countries from the adverse impacts of particularly exposed to pollution and rising
climate change. water levels, have the least resources to combat
Asian members of the Climate Vulnerable climate change.
Forum (CVF), led by Bangladesh and the Phil- They called for such UN funding vehicles
ippines, have put forward 16 recommendations as the Adaptation Fund, Global Environment
for improving the response to the climate crisis, Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GEF)
The group’s CVF Manifesto for COP26 had to be beefed up.
previously called for a Climate Emergency Pact, However, they also warned that while the
and for the world’s leaders to meet the targets set $100bn in funding was needed, it still fell short of
up by the 2016 Paris Agreement Global Goal on the $1.8 trillion over 10 years needed for financ-
Adaptation. ing adaptation and resilience, according to the
The key issue is that the Asian states repre- Global Commission on Adaptation.
sent some of the world’s most vulnerable nations, Indeed, they called on the COP26 conference
which are struggling on the front line of the fast to approve the New Collective Quantified Goal
worsening worldwide climate crisis. on Climate Finance and to increase the $100bn
The 11 participating governments from Asia per year figure.
include: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Finally, they also called for at least 5% of the
Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, The Philippines, revenues raised from the world’s emerging car-
Tajikistan, Timor-Leste and Sri Lanka. bon markets to be ring-fenced to support the
The $100bn in annual funding for climate adaptation actions of developing countries par-
adaption was agreed at the First Climate Vulner- ticularly vulnerable to climate change.
able Finance Summit, which agreed to $500bn The small island states called for real action in
of balanced climate finance for adaptation and the form of increased financing for adaptation,
mitigation for the 5-year period between 2020 removal of barriers to technology transfers, and
and 2024. In their call this week, the 11 Asian investment in capacity developments in line with
vulnerable countries urged developed countries Article 7 of the Paris Agreement and setting a
to publish a clear Delivery Plan for the promised Global Goal on Adaptation. They warned that
$500bn. some low-lying island states risked vanishing
“We are concerned that developed countries from existence within this century as sea levels
have yet to meet their climate finance goal and rise.
call to those parties to scale up climate finance Indeed, they also called for tighter caps on
both for adaptation and mitigation and enhance maritime carbon emissions, the strengthening
the quality and composition of it while providing of islands’ maritime zones and the sustainable
at least 50% of public funds towards adaptation management of the oceans.™
in order to correct the large-scale imbalance and

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