14 April 2016: Finance ministers of the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group consisting of 43 developing countries ‘systemically’ vulnerable to climate change have agreed to advance climate change responses through financial action compatible with the goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, calling for swifter progress towards the developed countries’ commitment of US$100 billion annually.

Following the Group’s Second Ministerial Dialogue, held in Washington, DC, US, on 14 April 2016, the V20 issued a communiqué advancing the Group’s collective economic and financial response to climate change and recognizing 23 new members. In the communiqué, the Group urges bolder action by the world’s major economies and strengthened international partnership, calling for a financial system consistent with the 1.5°C limit and investment in increased resilience and adaptation. It also recognizes that the macro-economic repercussions of climate change embedded as ‘a negative weight on the global recovery’ could be addressed through strengthened responses as a matter of ‘humanitarian priority.’

The ministers call for additional and concessional international financing towards the Group’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) that ‘provide foundations of investment platforms for transformational economic action.’

Recognizing the vital role of the private sector, the Group looks forward to making progress on disaster preparedness, financial protection, financial flow analysis, carbon pricing, public-private partnerships (PPP) and risk pooling. It reiterates its support for: innovative fiscal and financial measures to raise finance, stimulate technological innovation and redirect investment toward climate-resilient and low-emissions development; and the promotion of methods for and approaches to internalizing the externalities of climate change into finance. Recognizing the importance of risk pooling for lowering premiums, extending insurance coverage, increasing pay-out reliability and promoting risk reduction, the Group also agrees to further work on the development of a V20 Risk Pooling Mechanism.

On the Paris Agreement, the Group calls for immediate efforts to implement and bolster national commitments to achieve compliance with the 1.5°C limit, urging that all countries’ long-term low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions development strategies be communicated in 2020 demonstrate consistency with the 1.5°C limit. It also invites the international community to take advantage of the 2018 facilitative dialogue to take stock of collective efforts, including on the basis of the Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global GHG emission pathways that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agreed to prepare at its 43rd session held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 11-13 April 2016, as per UNFCCC’s invitation.

In addition to calls for quicker progress towards the annual US$100 billion commitment by developed countries in climate financing, including through the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the V20 urges an even 50-50 allocation of climate finance between adaptation and mitigation by 2020 at the latest, as progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on greater support for adaptation.

Additionally, the Group expresses alignment with the G7 on the long-term objective of applying climate change policies and actions throughout the global economy, including carbon market-based and regulatory instruments, and urges the G7 and G20 to scale up climate action consistent with the 1.5°C limit and the global adaptation goal. Welcoming the World Bank Climate Change Action Plan, the V20 further urges enhancement of the climate change focus of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) and International Financial Institutions (IFIs), as well as dedicated support for risk pooling and readiness assistance on mechanisms for pricing emissions. The V20 agreed to reconvene in Washington, DC, US, in October 2016 for the third V20 Ministerial Dialogue.

The V20 was established in Lima, Peru, in October 2015, as a dedicated cooperation group of the Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF). Currently chaired by the Philippines, the V20 originally consisted of 20 developing countries from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific, with 23 new members recognized during the Second Ministerial Dialogue. The V20 communiqué contributes to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 13 (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts) and related target 13.a on mobilizing US$100 billion annually by 2020 and fully operationalizing the GCF through its capitalization as soon as possible.

The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, by, inter alia, holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In the context of this temperature goal, it also establishes the global goal on adaptation of enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change, with a view to contributing to sustainable development and ensuring an adequate adaptation response. In Paris, UNFCCC Parties agreed to hold in 2018 a facilitative dialogue to take stock of their collective efforts towards the long-term goals enshrined in the Agreement.

The originial V20 members are: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. [V20 Ministerial Communiqué] [V20 Press Release] [Second Ministerial Dialogue Agenda] [Decision Adopting Paris Agreement] [Submitted INDCs] [IISD-RS Coverage of IPCC43] [IISD RS Story on World Bank Climate Change Action Plan] [IISD RS Coverage of IPCC-43]