Resident Coordinator Advocates for Climate Financing for SIDS at COP27

In alignment with the UN Development System Reform mandate for Resident Coordinators to lead efforts on strategic priority issues towards attainment of the SDGs, Mr. Trebucq joined counterpart Savina Ammassari, Resident Coordinator for Gabon, for the first in a series of Fireside Chats, this one addressing climate finance, with a focus on Gabon and Barbados  and the Eastern Caribbean.

Making the case for scaled-up support for Caribbean SIDS during the moderated discussion held at the SDG Pavilion, Mr. Trebucq cited inadequate resources for climate finance, high costs of doing business, impracticability of current instruments for small states, and lack of data and capacities as among the key challenges and bottlenecks facing developing countries.

“When it comes to climate change and natural disasters, the Caribbean as a region, is significantly more exposed that other SIDS, with a higher cost to recover. In 2017, the cost of the hurricane season to the Caribbean Countries was US$ 13 billion. Global finance flows are not matching this reality. The most recent calculations shows that the world is behind the 100 billion target. For SIDS, it is even more dramatic. Globally we saw an increase of 27% for LDCs between 2017 and 2019. However, SIDS saw the level of climate finance directed at them peak in 2018, and reverted to 2017 levels in 2019,” he explained.

Against this backdrop,  he fully endorsed the Mia Mottley-led Bridgetown Initiative with proposals for widening eligibility, expanding  MDB lending for climate , funding loss and damage, and making the system more shock absorbent , for instance by including pandemic and disaster clauses in MDB lending.

“If developing countries had these during COVID, it would have released 1 trillion of liquidity, twice their spending on COVID-19,” he maintained.

Giving some insight into the UN’s response to the region’s challenges, Mr. Trebucq told national delegations as well as civil society, business organisations in attendance, efforts were placed on advocacy, developing global and local tools, and supporting governments to address challenges through piloting and scaling innovative approaches.

“The UN supports the countries in the Caribbean to advocate for increased access to climate finance in line with the Bridgetown Initiative and calls from member states for a Multi-Dimensional Vulnerability Index to better measure vulnerability, produce data, evidence and analysis on the situation of SIDS and facilitate SIDS issues on the international agenda,” he explained.

On the matter of innovative programming the RC identified efforts to link social protection systems with climatic shocks, specifically referencing a WFP pilot project in Dominica in 2021, that is contributing $300,000 over two years to scale up access to disaster risk financing to assist the most vulnerable. He also cited the Caribbean Resilience Fund, a financing mechanism to spur economic recovery, build resilience and enhance liquidity, the $10M Blue Economy Investment Facility, developed to support blue economy projects across the Eastern Caribbean, and a new Joint Programme on Innovative Finance aimed at establishing a centre of excellence for innovative finance together with the Caribbean Development Bank.

In addressing the role of Resident Coordinators, to help to scale-up climate finance and accelerate progress in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, Mr. Trebucq said RCs played a “crucial role” in amplifying the voices of countries they served, creating, and sustaining dialogue on climate finance, raising ambition on the SDGs, innovating, and taking projects to scale and leveraging assets and expertise from the UN Development System.

“When we think of innovative financing mechanisms and solutions it is not just about increasing access but also improving the efficiency and effectiveness of existing and new finance so that this can have a greater development impact. Using the convening power of the UN, as RCs we are well placed to bring in a wider audience around the table to come up with joint solutions,” he concluded.

The other RC Fireside Chats addressed Youth and Future Generations; Decarbonisation; Agriculture and Adaptation; Water; Biodiversity; and Solutions.