Adapting to Climate Change: The Interplay between International and Domestic Institutions in the Context of Climate Finance

Dear colleagues,

Climate change is of crucial significance to all countries around the globe. The South is however particularly affected since they are highly vulnerable to climate impacts while not emitting many greenhouse gases (so far). Historically, they have not contributed to causing the problem but they are greatly affected by its consequences. Indeed, climate change creates multiple inequalities. Developed states are to a large degree responsible for climate change, but are forecast to confront only moderate adverse effects and are better equipped and able to adapt. Middle income or least developed states are not culpable and yet experience significant threats to livelihoods, assets and security.

The UNFCCC Paris Agreement on climate change, signed in 2016, for the first time commits all nations to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist the South to do so. The Paris Agreement and the rulebook, agreed at COP24 in Katowice, include transitional mechanisms and support for developing countries, reflecting the differentiation among low and mid-income countries (in particular between the LSD and emerging economies). This special issue will discuss the commitments and challenges for implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement for developing countries. It will specifically focus on financial instruments which facilitate climate change mitigation and adaptation.

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition that enhancing the effectiveness and the distributive fairness of international climate finance to developing countries will depend not only on the greater availability of a variety of financing resources (e.g. multilateral, bilateral, public, private), but increasingly as well, on the capacities of recipient countries and especially the most vulnerable ones, to absorb, manage, and implement financial support. Unlike developed countries, which in general have the internal capacities to use and generate climate finance, developing countries and especially least developed countries (LCDs) and middle-income countries (MICs), often lack the necessary institutional, policy, and skills systems to access, manage and use climate finance effectively. Yet, early experiences with the mobilisation and channeling of international climate financial flows to developing countries shows that a lack of robust and lasting capacities at national and local levels can not only delay but also seriously compromise the funding and implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation projects. The setting up of adequate policy and institutional frameworks is also central to improving national ownership over the use of climate funds and can, over the long run, further strengthen the capacity of recipient countries to access a wider and more varied range of financial resources.  Hence, whilst some progress has been made in recent years, especially with regard to the establishment in some developing countries of national institutions specifically dedicated to managing climate funds, greater interests and efforts on the part of both developed and developing countries should be devoted to improving recipient countries’ national climate finance readiness, i.e. their capacity to plan for, access, allocate, deliver and make use of climate finance resources, both domestic and international, as well as monitor, track, and report of its use and results (UNDP, 2012, p. 4). In so doing, it is important to gain a better understanding of the drivers and limitations of climate finance readiness development, especially within the context of those recipient countries that have in recent years demonstrated substantial efforts towards strengthening capacities to access international climate funds. 

The aim of the call for papers is to discuss the current state of play on national climate finance readiness from the perspective of developing countries and assess the challenges and opportunities for domestic institutions to link up with global (finance) institutions.

We welcome proposals from academics, practitioners and advanced doctoral students. In particular, we strongly encourage submissions from developing countires. The deadline for submitting proposals is 9th October 2019. Your proposal should include the following details:

• Full Name
• Organisation
• Position
• Email Address
• Paper Title (max. 160 characters)
• Abstract (max. 500 words)
• Name of any co-authors

Proposals should be send to Dr. Axel Marx – [email protected]

The authors of the accepted proposals will be invited to a workshop on 11 December at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, University of Leuven where drafts of the papers will be discussed. Full papers will be considered for a special issue of the journal Sustainability.

Limited funding for participants to the workshop will be available, in particular for participants from developing countries. This event is part of the workshop series organised in the context of the Global Minds programme of KU Leuven.

Important dates:
Deadline for paper proposals: 9th October 2019
Workshop Leuven: 11th December 2019
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2020

Dr. Axel Marx
Guest Editor

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