VCA at COP27

The COP27 summit will bring governments together to accelerate much-needed global action to confront the climate crisis. Negotiators will attempt to build on the Glasgow Climate Pact that was agreed to at COP26 and includes – amongst others – calls for scaling up of adaptation finance, ‘phasedown’ of coal, and a completed Paris Rulebook. In addition, the Egyptian host is pushing to prioritise climate finance as industrialised countries are failing to pay their fair share towards the 100 billion USD goal, and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) is on the horizon. At the same time, the crackdown on civil society in Egypt highlights the importance of safeguarding human rights and has made protecting civil spaces a priority at COP27. With the COP being held on the African continent, it provides excellent opportunities to highlight key issues facing the region.

For VCA (Voices for Just Climate Action), COP is an important platform as it provides space to raise and amplify the voices of Indigenous people, youth, and women in all their diversities and others we work with and showcase their actions and achievements. It is also a platform to advocate for shifting agency, resources and leadership to the local level, including climate finance, connecting with relevant stakeholders, and expanding our network and movement.

 

 

Voices of women, youth, indigenous communities and marginalized groups are typically absent in decision-making processes at COP. The VCA alliance will promote the inclusion of local voices in COP decision-making processes by supporting climate leaders to join COP27.  The VCA will collaborate with the stakeholders to understand UN policy and processes to better articulate and target their advocacy in a manner that they are heard and to increase impact. Moreover, VCA advances the discourse on locally-led adaptation by inviting several of the climate leaders to speak at its events and highlight the challenges and barriers they face, as well as demonstrating the efficacy of partners’ locally-led climate solutions by disseminating stories with impact.

 

 

Advocating for climate finance to reach the local level 

The VCA alliance and its partners will engage in discussions around climate finance for adaptation and the NCQG. As climate finance is currently not reaching local communities and their climate solutions, we will call for qualified climate finance goals that effectively reach the local level. We propose practical recommendations for simplified access and support initiatives that generate tangible opportunities to bring financing closer to the local level.

Briefing paper showcasing good examples of locally led solutions 

VCA alliance member Hivos, with contributions of its partners, wrote a new briefing paper showcasing good examples of locally-led climate solutions and analysing examples of different existing mechanisms that have been designed to increase participation, transparency and accountability and could be vehicles to channel the much-needed resources to these kinds of solutions.

The paper is uploaded to the Hivos website here.

Building approaches to fund local solutions with climate evidence (BASE) 

VCA is also part of Fundación Avina’s initiative BASE, which will be launched at COP27. BASE short for ‘Building Approaches to Fund Local Solutions with Climate Evidence’, aims to pragmatically tackle the issue of access to climate funds for local organisations due to a lack of capacity to provide evidence for the climate impact of their solutions. BASE will bring together stakeholders and initiatives working on a just transition and assisting local organisations in developing a strong climate rationale for their proposals. BASE will implement grantmaking schemes that generate evidence of climate impact and seeks to create a proof of concept to be used in advocacy for changing climate finance practices for local solutions.

Check this BASE website for more information about the initiative and its launch.

 

Growing the climate justice movement 

The need to work together has never been so pivotal. It is key to connect the efforts of diverse civil society movements and local innovative solutions and amplify their work to tackle the climate crisis. VCA is a coalition builder that collaborates with social movements and local partners to strengthen and achieve just climate action. At COP27, we aim to meet and connect with these groups and dedicate an hour session to highlight some of the actions they have undertaken (see event description below).

 

Defending Environmental Defenders 

Environmental defenders continue to be persecuted for the role they play in defending nature, their territories and rights of access, use and benefit. The VCA will continue to use platforms such as the COP to highlight the challenges faced and propose mitigation measures. This will be an opportunity to disseminate the dossier, The Right to a Future, which contains 20 pressing stories about Paraguay’s environment, development, and human rights issues. 

 

 

New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) and local climate finance

9 November, 12:00- 13:00, Hall A, Green Zone

Organisers: VCA: SSN, AMwA, Hivos

Event Code:9A1213

This side event explores the opportunities for shared strategies for mobilising finance for local climate action. It seeks to identify opportunities for unlocking finance for local climate action through the new collective and quantified goal (NCQG). It is based on the VCA alliance submission on New collective quantified goals to CM.4.

The submission is anchored on the call for the ad hoc programme to consider including a quantitative subgoal of the NCQG on finance for local climate solutions. In addition, concrete targets should be set for climate finance to reach the local level to finance local climate solutions driven by local communities, including priority rights holders like youth, indigenous peoples, migrants, women, etc.

A sub-goal and a concrete target would enable local actors and underrepresented groups to demand the delivery of finance and connect locally-led solutions for broad-based climate action. This sub-goal should be a response to the lessons learned in the provision of climate finance, where local climate solutions have been underrepresented, their needs rendered invisible and what little flows have reached this level have translated into debt.

Join the event here.

Passcode: 722432

 

27 voices @Cop27

10 November, 14:30-15:30, Panda Hub

Organisers: VCA

Voices for Just Climate Action aims to bring to the forefront voices of the wider civil society and underrepresented groups who are producing, facilitating and advocating for innovative and inclusive solutions to tackle the climate crisis. In doing so, the program intends to address issues of social injustices which are deeply embedded and will be further aggravated by the climate crisis.  VCA’s 27@27 will showcase short videos featuring the program’s local partners and youth groups from various grassroots communities in the Global South who are engaged in climate action.

Event schedule Panda Hub

 

Locally-led adaptation: bringing the local agenda forward

12 November, 09:30-11:00, Benelux Pavilion

Organisers: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, VCA, CDKN

Climate change and the loss of nature are two of the most pressing and urgent issues of our time. Their impacts are deeply unequal, with the world’s poorest and most marginalized groups, such as women, children, Indigenous Peoples and local communities who often rely directly on natural resources for their survival, hardest hit. It is critical more than ever for these local actors to be central to decision-making and efforts to combat these crises. Recognising the importance of local actors and their extensive local, intergenerational, indigenous, traditional and cultural knowledge, over 80 organisations (including the Dutch government) endorsed the Principles of Locally Led Adaptation (LLA) at COP26 in 2021.

This session aims to bring the local agenda forward by providing a space for those directly involved in LLA to share their experiences. It will therefore draw on lessons learned, address key barriers and identify opportunities to move this critical agenda forward.

This event will also be live-streamed on YouTube. For more information, visit the EIB website.

 

 

In addition to the above, various Alliance Partners are organising side events, individually or jointly with other organisations outside the alliance:  

• Messages from local voices and concrete solutions to improve climate finance access on the ground – Avina. 6 November, Resilience hub
• Breaking inequity cycles: bringing finance for adaptation loss and damage to the local level – Avina. 10 November 11:30-12:30
• Accelerating gender-smart and inclusive climate finance through public and private investments – Hivos with the European Investment Bank and contributions of AMwA. 14 November, Blue Zone 
• Assessing the viability of the current global climate finance landscape in the realization of gender and climate justice – AMwA with Hivos.  
• Amplifying stories on loss and damage and climate action – SSN and ICCCAD.  16 November, 11:00-12:00, Resilience Hub  
• Governance and finance models that advance climate justice and urban resilience – 12:30-14:00, Resilience Hub
• Gran Chaco Americano Biome: An opportunity to face climate change – Avina and Redes Chaco. 16 November, 14:00-15:00 (GMT+2), The sustainable agriculture of the Americas, Area C – Delegation Pavilion

For more details, please visit each VCA Alliance Partners’ websites.