I am interested in the Aotearoa NZ negotiators plan for the climate finance. Today they had a slide in their presentation at the stakeholders meeting that showed what they were going to put forward in Warsaw as a plan for better climate finance regulations. What's the catch I hear you say? Don't be so pessimistic! If they really do put this forward, and it is in the same (yet more detailed) format as they have proposed originally, then it could actually quite exciting!
Slide:
Warsaw Partnership on Effective Climate Finance:
-Encourage and support countries to set their own strategies
-Aligned behind these priorities
-Delivered in coordinated ways
-Outcomes are able to be measured, reported and verified
-Does not displace private-sector investment
So basically, developing countries to set their own priorities using simplified procedures, whilst making sure the money is well tracked and the outcomes are reported, and making sure the money is doing what it was intended for.
This outline seems great but very vague and a bit aspirational. I am not sure how it would be put into practice, as there was no talk of a plan of action. It is fine to say that they do not want public sector investment displaced, but what are they going to do to encourage that private sector investment in the first place?
One of the other worries I have with it is that is may take a long time to set up. This could mean even more time that countries are not investing their pledged money into climate finance. The Green Climate Fund was started in 2009. According to Roger (negotiator at the Auckland stakeholder meeting) the fund is not going to be ready to receive money until around the end of 2014. This is due to the extensive amount of time that a international body requires to set up.
If the Green Climate Fund was stalled further due to the creation of new guidelines brought in by this Aotearoa NZ proposal then it would be a step backwards. However, if it did not affect the Green Climate Fund, then this new initiative could provide some much needed stakeholder representation at a grassroots level and provide locally led solutions to local climate change issues. A.k.a go Aotearoa New Zealand!
I am really interested to watch how this proposal plays out during COP19 and how it may be adopted and transformed during this process.
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