Initial project approval expected for early 2009
WASHINGTON D.C. October 2008: Representatives from donor and developing countries meeting in Washington have finalized their choice of countries to serve initially on the committees that will oversee decisions about investments and implementation of the newly created multi-billion dollar Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
The CIF design provides that donor and potential recipient countries should hold an equal number of seats, to be selected through a process of consultation among the countries themselves.
Seven donor countries (Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, the UK, and the US) and seven potential recipient countries (Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey) were selected as members of the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) Trust Fund Committee.
Similarly, seven donors (Australia, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK) and seven potential recipient countries (Algeria, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Thailand, and Yemen) were selected as members of the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) Trust Fund Committee. In addition, the SCF Trust Fund Committee approved the composition (Australia, Bolivia, Germany, Japan, Maldives, Samoa, Senegal, the UK, and Yemen) of a Sub-Committee to oversee the Pilot Program on Climate Resilience (PPCR).
The design stipulates that one more donor and one more potential recipient country may join each Trust Fund Committee for a maximum of eight seats each.
The Clean Technology Fund will invest in projects and programs in developing countries that contribute to the demonstration, deployment, and transfer of low-carbon technologies. The projects or programs must have a significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas savings.
The Strategic Climate Fund will be broader and more flexible in scope. It will serve as an overarching fund for various programs to test innovative approaches to climate change. The first program under this fund is a pilot aimed at increasing climate resilience in developing countries.
The responsibilities of the Trust Fund Committees include approving the strategic use of the funds, as well as programming priorities. The committees will also provide guidance to the annual CIF Partnership Forum which met for the first time Tuesday to discuss the strategic direction of the new funds.
More specifically, the CTF Trust Fund Committee will be responsible for approving financing for programs and projects, while approval of financing for projects under the SCF is delegated to the Sub-Committee of the relevant program.
Both Trust Fund Committees, as well as the PPCR Sub-Committee, will meet again in November to continue their work, including discussions on how to ensure robust and meaningful civil society involvement in their respective work plans. The first decisions about which projects will receive support via the Climate Investment Funds are expected early in 2009.
Last month, donor nations pledged over US$6 billion to the Climate Investment Funds, created to provide interim, scaled-up funding to help developing countries in their efforts to address climate change in their development strategies.
The Partnership Forum is a venue to provide dialogue on the strategic directions, results, and impacts of the CIF. It also provides a platform to share lessons learned as widely as possible. The first Forum, held in Washington this week, was a broad-based meeting of stakeholders attended by donor and recipient countries, United Nations agencies, the Global Environment Facility, bilateral development agencies, non-governmental organizations, private sector entities, and scientific and technical experts.
For more information on the Climate Investment Funds, please visit:www.worldbank.org/cif
For more information on the World Bank Group’s Strategic Framework on Development and Climate Change, please visit:www.worldbank.org/climateconsult
Source: World Bank
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CLIMATE INVESTMENT FUNDS: COUNTRIES SELECTED FOR GOVERNING BODIES
