Mobilizing finance for local climate change solutions

Local communities are expected to be most affected by the impacts of climate change owing to a lack of adaptive capacity. Despite the impacts of climate change being felt more acutely at the local level, climate finance decision-making continues to be made at a high level with local actors playing a minor role in defining the interventions and the subsequent management of funds. This has led to a staggering low percentage of less than 10% or US$1.5 bn of international, regional, and national funds reaching the local level between 2003 and 2016. There is a growing acknowledgement and body of knowledge focused on the issue of climate finance access by CSOs and local organizations for implementation of climate change solutions at the grassroots level. This discussion paper aims to enable greater discussion, solutions, and action on climate finance issues at the local level.