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| Dear Colleagues, |
| As the 23rd Conference of Parties in Bonn ramps up this week and nations make progress towards implementing the Paris Agreement, UNDP's Governance of Climate Change Finance team continues to make headway and pioneer innovations that are improving the effectiveness of climate finance throughout Asia and the Pacific. |
| Since our last update, the team has been busy throughout the region advancing south-south exchanges, partnerships for climate finance transparency, and informing smarter development policies through new research and advocacy tools. Particular attention, however, should go to Pakistan’s endorsement of a UNDP supported national Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF). |
| CCFFs enable government-owned reforms agenda to align budgeting and financing to climate policy objectives and planning processes—including those linked to the Paris Agreement. Pakistan now joins the ranks of other countries who have adopted similar frameworks, including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Indonesia. |
| Finally, to assist governments throughout Asia Pacific to better manage, mobilize and target climate finance we will shortly be launching a new Guidance Note on CCFFs. This will serve as a helpful primer for actors wanting to create, refine, and implement their own Climate Change Financing Frameworks. |
| Until then, we wish you the best and look forward with hope following COP-23. |
With our best wishes,
UNDP's Asia Pacific Governance of Climate Change Finance Team
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| CLIMATE CHANGE BUDGETING UPDATES |
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| First Ever Citizens' Climate Budget Launched in Nepal |
| A Citizens’ Climate Budget unveiled in Kathmandu in August showed an increase in government allocations on programmes seeking to address the impacts of climate change. Nepal's Citizens Climate Budget: where is Nepal's money being allocated? is the first publication of its kind that visualizes budget figures and trends in a set of simplified infographics for the public. |
| It uses information from the Ministry of Finance and other government agencies to provide the public with insights into how the national budget is being allocated to address climate change and its effects. The International Budget Partnership interviewed Freedom Forum about the CCB here. |
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| IMF's Article IV Recommends Royal Government of Cambodia to Take Forward UNDP Supported Climate Change Budget Reforms |
| UNDP and the Government of Cambodia’s climate change finance mainstreaming work has been integrated into the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) October, 2017 Article IV report on Cambodia. This is a step change in UNDP’s engagement on domestic finance for climate change and possibly the first reference to it in an IMF Article IV report. |
| In particular the IMF used findings in the Climate Public Expenditure and Instructional Reviews (CPEIRs) and Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF) to articulate their assessment of the macroeconomic impacts of climate change. Recommendations for further mainstreaming climate change into the budget were also included in the IMF executive board statement. |
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| Second Regional Climate Finance Course |
| Dhaka, Bangladesh: The Second Regional Climate Finance Course, was held on 30 October-3 November in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Delivered by ICCCAD, IIED, Action on Climate Today and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) the course was supported by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Government of Sweden. |
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| UNDP and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors Support Journalists in Pakistan to Improve Climate Finance Reporting |
| The UNDP Governance of Climate Change Finance Programme and the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) have held workshops in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to intensively build media skills on reporting on climate change and climate finance in Pakistan. |
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At the workshops, a CPNE and UNDP handbook, Climate Smart Reporting: A Handbook for Journalists, was also launched. Attended by journalists and editors, the workshops covered key points of climate reporting in Pakistan from national and international experts in order to build strong and informed accountability actors in Pakistan.
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| A national story competition for journalism on climate change or climate change finance was also held throughout July. Three winners each in English, Sindhi and Urdu were selected and presented with a prize from the CPNE. |
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| Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review in China: New Report on Hebei Released |
| Together with Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences (CAFS) affiliated with Ministry of Finance (MOF), UNDP launched the Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR): A Study of Hebei Province. The report represents the second phase in a series of reports that aim to review the status of multi-dimensional support for climate change activities and contribute information on public expenditure related to climate change in China. |
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| Pakistan's New Climate Strategy Hailed as a Game Changer |
| Islamabad: Pakistan has unveiled a strategy called ‘Climate Change Financing Framework’ (CCFF) to mainstream climate change into planning and budget systems... |
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| Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised "Climate Budget Report, 2017-18" prepared by UNDP's IBFCR project |
| Within the Parliamentary general discussion session on 28 June 2017, Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina praised Ministry of Finance for focusing on the prospective adverse effects of climate change in Bangladesh and giving a guideline for financing the projects against the threat... |
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| UN Experts Place Human Rights at the Center of Paris Agreement Implementation, IISD Knowledge Hub |
| 3 November 2017: A group of UN experts has urged placing human rights at the center of efforts directed at implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, said the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The call came immediately before the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference opened in Bonn, Germany... |
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| Nepal is Providing Innovative Leadership in Asia and the Pacific in Integrating Climate Change into Budgets. |
| Suren Poghosyan describes how Important progress in sustainable development may not always be dramatic and shares how one achievement for sustainable climate action represents a ground-breaking leap ahead for Nepal... |
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| In Northern Pakistan, the Provincial Assembly is Championing Better Monitoring of Climate Finance |
| Sujala Pant discusses vibrant interaction with a number of members of the Khyber Pakhutunkhwa (KP) Provincial Assembly in Pakistan - a selection of cross-party representatives who make up the newly established Working Group on Climate Change Finance... |
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| CLIMATE CHANGE BUDGETING UPDATES |
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| Government Investment in Climate Change is Paying Off in Nepal: Support to Adaptation Leads to Increased Income for Farmers |
| Investments made by the Government of Nepal to help Nepalese farmers adapt to climate change is having a positive impact on the income level of the farmers, a new study by the Ministry of Agriculture Development, National Disaster Risk Reduction Centre, Freedom Forum and UNDP reveals. |
| The two reports - “Collaborative Research on Impact of Climate Change Finance on the Climate vulnerable poor population” and “Public Expenditure Tracking Survey of Cooperative Farming, Small Irrigation and Transportation of Seeds and fertilizers” - were released in early August in Kathmandu. |
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| Bangladesh Draws on Indonesian Expertise to Optimize Benefits of Climate Finance |
| In October, with support from UNDP’s Governance of Climate Change Finance Programme, 11 Bangladesh Government representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Environment and Forests, Water Resources and Agriculture undertook a climate finance study-tour in Indonesia. |
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