29 November 2012: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) Energy and Environment Division has released a discussion paper, titled “National Climate Funds: Learning from the experience of Asia-Pacific countries,” which includes country examples and recommendations.
The paper draws on the research carried out by UNDP’s Energy and Environment Division to provide an overview of the key issues in designing, establishing and managing extra-budgetary national climate funds in the Asia-Pacific region. This analysis supplements the UNDP Guidebook for the Design and Establishment of National Funds.
UNDP’s research includes a literature review, a ten-week online discussion that began on 27 February 2012, case study analysis of seven funds in the region, and a regional “clinic” held in Bangkok, Thailand, from 6-8 September 2012, which involved government officials, civil society, fund managers and development partners in discussing their experiences of designing and managing national climate funds.
The seven national funds analyzed are: the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation (BTFEC); the China Clean Development Mechanism Fund (CCDMF); the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) Trust Fund; the Thailand Energy Conservation Promotion (ENCON) Fund; the Lao Environmental Protection Fund (EPF); the Micronesian Conservation Trust (MCT); and the Tuvalu Trust Fund (TTF). The report describes the various objectives of the funds, for example supporting biodiversity conservation in Micronesia, and contributing to the long-term financial viability of Tuvalu by providing an additional source of revenue for the Government’s recurrent expenses.
The report highlights the various fund models suited to different aims. UNDP recommends being clear about national climate funds’ strategic role, their political feasibility, the institutional and human resource capacity available to national climate funds, and issues of time and cost-effectiveness. [Publication: National Climate Funds: Learning from the Experience of Asia-Pacific Countries]