Crystal Ball of Climate Finance

Running from one meeting room to the next and eating many a crêpe must be tiresome for ministers. But fear not, ECO is here to summarise the crucial things on climate finance for our new arrivals.

If ECO had a crystal ball for climate finance in future years, this is what it would show:

  1. Climate finance needs a level of certainty. In a post-2020 world, this could be met by setting collective targets for financial support. To keep us on track, these targets should be reviewed and updated every five years, with separate targets for mitigation and adaptation. This leaves no room for error in our crystal ball predictions.
  2. Developed countries should continue to lead the way in providing financial support after 2020. In fact, ECO’s crystal ball foresees that starting with at least US$100 billion annually provided by developed countries.
  3. The crystal ball envisions the growing role of other countries, with an accent on South-South cooperation, to complement developed countries—based on comparable responsibilities, capabilities and stages of development.
  4. Flows of finance that align the goals of the Convention. In other words, moving all money out of dirty, polluting energy and into low-emission, climate resilient actions—something we can all look forward to.

Last but not least, there’s our forecast for the years before 2020. Our crystal ball has indicated that adaptation finance needs to take higher priority in these years. The figure $50 billion is floating in front of us. Something to seriously consider this week.

So go forth, ministers, and make these predictions a reality.