Climate Finance Fundamentals

Updated just before COP 19 in Warsaw (Poland), this series of 11 short introductory briefings, written in co-operation with the Overseas Development Institute, looks at various aspects of climate change financing. It is meant to give readers unfamiliar with the global discourse about funding for climate action a better understanding of financial flows, the regions and countries they reach, and the climate interventions they target.

Separate briefs discuss the principles for a normative framework for climate finance, the evolving global climate finance architecture, gender aspects of climate financing, and the process to design the Green Climate Fund. Others focus on the thematic areas of funding for mitigation, adaptation and REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and forest conservation) respectively. Lastly, a number of briefings look specifically at the scale and impact of climate finance flows on different regions in the developing world.

Data used in the briefs draws on www.climatefundsupdate.org, the tracking project of ODI/hbf focusing on dedicated climate financing instruments from pledge to project. Further information is available on the hbs Washington website, which also features a timeline and a database where users can search for relevant institutional and administrative contacts in their countries/regions in order to apply for financial means.