CDB pilots new initiative for tracking Caribbean’s climate finance

DUBAI:

The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) says it is spearheading the development of a regional online monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system for climate finance tracking.

The region’s premier financial institution said that once fully operationalised, the system will enable its borrowing member countries (BMCs) to improve tracking and reporting of finance flows from various sources for climate change related actions.

The MRV, developed through a grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness and Preparatory Programme, has been piloted in Belize, Haiti, Jamaica, and St Kitts-Nevis.

The readiness project created a platform that permits the central management of source funding flows, facilitates greater sharing of information to reduce duplication among donors, and enables more efficient use of finances.

It also delivered an operational manual and guidance notes with processes and procedures for the MRV tracking system, guidelines with a methodology for classifying climate finance, and training for persons from the participating countries, the CDB said.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), senior representatives from the CDB, as well as the government of Jamaica and the Belize-based Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) discussed the results of the pilot.

The dialogue focused on the need for the region to adopt a credible MRV system which can improve understanding and management of financial flows from public, private, national, and international sources for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The dialogue also shed light on how MRVs help shape climate change policy and improve how climate change data is captured.

Acting principal director in the Climate Change Division of the Jamaica Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Omar Alcock, said a fully functioning MRV system helps countries identify existing gaps.

“When we have a framework that is clear on what the requirements are, we are able to identify where we can’t meet these requirements and then put things in place to improve the reporting that is required under the agreement,” Alcock said.

The MRV system should also provide regional decision-makers with greater visibility of the climate fund’s portfolio and necessary information to aid the conceptualisation and development of initiatives to increase resilience to climate change impacts.

CDB’s Division Chief, Environmental Sustainability, Valerie Isaac, emphasised the bank’s readiness to work with its regional and international partners to standardise the MRV system across BMCs.

“It is important for the countries that participated in the readiness project to engage with their other country partners, sharing experiences and encouraging the establishment of national systems that are credible and transparent including the understanding of the benefits of a regional and collaborative approach to tracking climate finance flows,” she said.

Executive director of the CCCCC, Dr Colin Young, noted that it was important to have alignment on what constitutes climate finance as this will assist countries in capturing and reporting data necessary to achieve their targets, while sustaining trust with financing partners.

“For an MRV Framework to be most effective there should be an understanding between the donors and recipient countries about what constitutes climate finance. This is essential for trust and transparency,” Young said.

The CDB said that the development of an MRV system aligns with the Paris Agreement which underlines the need for climate finance MRV systems and transparency as core aspects of the effective implementation of countries National Determined Contributions.

Prior to the GCF Readiness project no MRV system, which captures the portfolio investment details from different climate funds and donors, existed for the Caribbean region.

CMC