ECO knows a lot is going on – declarations, Majils, inf infs –- but does that mean a certain Party talking hard cash and funding momentum has forgotten something major? ECO gets it. We all have those moments where things fall through the cracks, especially the fundamentals. But how can we have a COP where Means of Implementation and more Finance are the talk of town and not the Green Climate Fund (GCF)? Filling the GCF is crucial for implementing the Convention and Paris Agreement. With flashy financial commitments announced with fanfare outside of the Convention’s financial mechanism, perhaps the COP Presidency got distracted by the shiny and new and forgot to consider contributing – voluntarily – to the tried and true?
And Developed country Parties, don’t think you are off the hook! You should check your memories too. Some GCF contributors have apparently forgotten to announce new pledges (and some don’t seem to know their fair share). Don’t they remember that significant pledges, rapidly fulfilled, must back up any claims for wanting to push climate action and ambition? Memory lapses happen, but ECO can help you recall that since the first replenishment, the climate catastrophe has worsened and developing countries are further caught in a debt trap. Yet somehow, developed country contributors are stuck in a matrix in which time – and costs – seemingly stood still and pledged the same, or even lower, than before. You remember and bemoan inflation when shopping but forget that euros, dollars or yen pledged today do not hold the same value as financial pledges from pre-inflation years.
As we consider the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) and that adaptation finance is decreasing as a share of overall climate finance, Parties also seem to have forgotten that funds under the financial mechanism provide the most grant finance to the most vulnerable. Don’t forget the Adaptation Fund or the GCF’s commitment to balancing between mitigation and adaptation!
While new commitments and partnerships range far and wide – and garner headlines – ECO reminds Parties that true leaders strengthen the financial mechanism and its fundamental institutions for effectiveness and sustainability in ways that meet current needs, rebuild trust and create predictability. The need for an ambitious GCF replenishment has never been clearer. The latest IPCC report, Adaptation Gap report, and the Global Stocktake synthesis compel an urgent upward shift in climate finance ambition – and success at COP28 depends on it. Those who claim climate leadership must remember what it really means.