To read Fact Sheets, Case Studies, and Scoping Studies from Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, see the PDF on this page.
Meeting the financial requirements of a transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) converges with delivering on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the related Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Many countries are undertaking analyses on how to align, renew, and modify their financing frameworks to meet the implementation requirements of their climate targets accordingly.
The Paris Agreement emphasizes the importance of making available financial resources to support the implementation of policies, strategies, regulation and actions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. A good deal of climate finance is already flowing in the Asia-Pacific region. The widely-quoted Climate Policy Initiative landscape study identified a total of US$391 bn in public and private climate finance flows for 2014, of which around 40-45 per cent (US$156 – 176bn) flowed to/in the Asia-Pacific region1. However, investments will need to be further scaled up, including the mobilization of domestic finance and private sector investments in particular, to support the implementation of the climate change mitigation targets of the countries in the region.
Through a three-year regional project, ESCAP is providing technical and advisory services to national financial institutions in five countries – Fiji, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Philippines – to identify and support the development of financial instruments that will leverage domestic investments to meet implementation needs and bridge financing gaps for low carbon climate resilient development. The project seeks to provide targeted advisory and technical assistance that will empower central banks as the regulator of the national financial markets in framing national fiscal policies for ‘clean’ investments in low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable development. Such polices would be further implemented by national development banks, as well as commercial banks and will generate low carbon investment projects engaging private investors down the road. The aim is to identify innovative financial instruments that are both climate-responsive (with a focus on mitigation) as well as in line with the 2030 Agenda. The project fosters peer-learning and stimulates the creation of new partnerships that bridge the public-private divide with the aim of forging low-carbon climate resilient development in the region.
To this end, scoping studies in four countries have been conducted to map out the landscape of national climate finance architecture and financial institutions, to identify on-going climate finance initiatives and existing incentives for low-carbon investments and priority areas for interventions. In addition, two rounds of national consultation workshops have been held in Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka and one in Indonesia, identifying national climate finance champions, stimulating discussion on innovative climate finance instruments for financial institutions and creating shared platforms for dialogue and learning among key stakeholders. This has been strengthened by the establishment of a regional network which seeks to promote peer learning and best practices through online forums and e-learning.
To see more, visit the Climate Finance Thematic Area here.
