Local adaptation efforts and the needs of those most vulnerable must be placed at the centre of the international response to climate change. The Green Climate Fund (GCF), in particular, should prioritise access of local (state and non-state) actors to available climate funds. That’s the key message from a new publication by the Netherlands-based NGO Both ENDS, co-sponsored by CDKN, called Local Actors Are Ready to Act: 6 Views on How the Green Climate Fund Could Reach Them.

The report makes the case for developing an international climate finance system that supports adaptation and mitigation opportunities at city and subnational level, through essays by six climate leaders. By taking such a devolved financing approach, the authors argue, the nascent Green Climate Fund will rise to its mission to “provide simplified and improved access to funding, including direct access, basing its activities on a country-driven approach and encourage[ing]  the involvement of relevant stakeholders, including vulnerable groups and addressing gender aspects.”

As for local actors’ fiduciary standards - which critics often see as a stumbling block to allocating climate finance locally – these can be handled effectively.  Danielle Hirsch, Both ENDS director, writes in the introduction: “ Past experiences show that local actors are capable of meeting common fiduciary standards, especially if funding agencies allow for capacity support of receiving organisations, to build trust.”

Read the full report

Find out about CDKN and Both ENDS project - Exploring local access to the Green Climate Fund (GCF)