Blog Posts: COP 20

Setting an aspirational adaptation goal—and ratcheting efforts up over time to reach it—can catalyze the wide range of actions necessary for all communities, especially the poorest, to have the means to be more resilient.

Despite difficult negotiations in Lima, discussions signaled the positive outlook among development banks for expanding climate finance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

With increasing low-carbon investments, pledges to the Green Climate Fund, and ambitious renewable energy and efficiency targets demonstrate robust political and financial commitments, building momentum for a strong global response to climate change.

Lawrence McDonald, Director of Communications at WRI, shares his COP20 Lima experience.

After two weeks of difficult negotiations and a nail-biting finale, delegates in Lima laid the groundwork for a successful international climate agreement in Paris next year.

Leaders at COP20 can explore a range of sources for financing low-carbon urban development including multilateral investment banks, private investors, and innovative initiatives like the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions or climate-themed bonds.

What is an equitable way of taking action in the context of growing emissions and climate impacts, from water scarcity and depressed agricultural yields to severe weather events?

And how can we reduce emissions and build climate resilience while taking into account varying human development needs?

Adaptation finance accountability is key to addressing obligations of national governments and international organizations to provide support, but actual funding decisions are often made without involving the populations hit first and worst by climate change, or without understanding how communities are vulnerable.

So who is accountable for making good use of adaptation funds, and who should hold whom accountable?

Climate change negotiations at COP 20 in Lima, Peru, have reached their mid-point and are moving into high gear. This week will be crucial as talks continue on a draft international climate agreement due to be concluded in Paris at the end of 2015.

Here are three issues to watch.

Making the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy is going to take a lot of investment, and the limited budgets of the public sector can’t tackle it alone.

But by targeting their support, governments can create incentives for significant private investment into climate activities; in other words, they can “mobilize” private investment.

As delegates gather at COP 20 in Lima, it’s a critical moment to think about how countries can build resilience to these impacts.

Negotiators are currently at work on creating an international climate agreement by COP 21 in Paris in 2015—they have an opportunity to craft one that accelerates action on adaptation and makes life better for vulnerable people around the world.