Navigating and engaging the climate finance architecture under the UNFCCC
In fulfilling its capacity building component, the LoCAL Facility of UNCDF has partnered with UNITAR. During 2019 to 2021 UNITAR supported the redesign of the LoCAL’s face-to-face training package and developed an e-tutorial on ‘Financing Local Adaptation to Climate Change: an Introduction to Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants’ in English and French, based on UNCDF’s guiding manual ‘Financing local adaptation to climate change – Experience with performance-based climate resilience grants’.
Since 2022 UNITAR has supported the design, development, and delivery of a face-to-face workshop on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and its three different market mechanisms, focusing on non-market approaches as stated in Article 6.8 aiming to support LoCAL Member Countries to build the capacity to identify the relevant entry points and effectively influence and guide the relevant negotiating tracks based on needs, demand, and innovative approaches in-country. In parallel, UNITAR designed, developed and launched a self-paced e-course on ‘International Climate Change Negotiations: Leveraging LoCAL Experience in Support of Climate Change Negotiations’.
As part of the continuous effort to support LoCAL Member Countries to build the capacity to better represent their national interests at the UNFCCC, LoCAL and UNITAR propose a workshop that builds upon the previous phases and ensures that LoCAL Member Countries have solid understanding of the climate finance architecture under the UNFCCC. UNFCCC Decisions, UNFCCC bodies relevant to the climate finance agenda, in particular the Standing Committee on Finance as well as the governance of UNFCCC financial mechanisms and funds that it oversees, such as the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, will be the focus of the workshop aiming to support the participants in building the capacity to identify climate finance entry points while able to engage the respective governing bodies.
An additional component of the workshop will focus on Loss and Damage, including the latest decisions from COP 27, in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Santiago Network and its future operating mechanism.
The workshop aims to contribute to building the capacity of LoCAL Member Countries (LDCs, SIDs and African nations) to better understand and engage in preparing for UNFCCC meetings, as well as ensuring that their climate finance needs are better reflected in these deliberations.
More specifically the objectives of the workshop are to build capacity for participants to:
- Discuss how the decisions taken at COP/CMA can be translate into real actions in different climate change funds
- Identify climate finance entry points and to engage with the respective governing bodies
- Articulate ways to take a strategic approach in engaging with climate change funds and reporting activities
- Practice strategies to engage with and guide the climate change funds (e.g., articulate needs, collaborate with other countries, develop new and effective elements for proposals, etc.)
The workshop is structured around six topics:
- Overview of the UNFCCC Climate Finance Architecture
- Engaging with the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund
- Information and Support Needed as part of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
- Standing Committee on Finance Functions and Activities
- Good Practices and Challenges in Access and Reporting
- Loss and Damage Finance
The workshop will be designed for UNFCCC focal points, civil servants in line ministries such as ministry of environment, ministry of forests and environment, ministry of economy and finance, etc. and national negotiators who attend UNFCCC bodies as observers or Party members, prepare submissions to UNFCCC bodies and participate actively in the UNFCCC processes.