Adaptation Fund Receives New US$ 2.6M Pledge from Brussels Regional Government of Belgium

Adaptation Fund Receives New US$ 2.6M Pledge from Brussels Regional Government of Belgium

Brings Total Raised For Year to US$ 84M, Comfortably Over Fundraising Target

Washington, D.C. (December 15, 2016) — In a continued outpouring of support for the Adaptation Fund following a highly successful COP22 climate conference in Morocco last month, the Brussels-Capital Region announced this week that it is has pledged EUR 2.5 million to the Fund.

The amount is equivalent to about a US$ 2.6 million commitment from Belgium’s regional government of Brussels.

“Brussels, capital of the North which is relatively sheltered from the consequences as regards to climate change, always has been particularly sensitive to the effects of [such] change on the most vulnerable countries,” said Madam Céline FREMAULT, Brussels Minister for Environment and Energy. “We have a primordial moral duty to help these countries to adapt. And the Adaptation Fund is an adequate tool for that.”

The new pledge raises the Fund’s total of pledged contributions for the year to about US$ 84 million, which is comfortably over its 2016 US$ 80 million resource mobilization target. The Fund raised about US$ 81 million in new contributions at the COP22 climate conference in Marrakech last month through a combination of developed country and subnational government donations.

During COP22, the governments of Germany, Sweden and Italy, as well as the Flanders and Walloon regions of Belgium announced plans to contribute to the Fund.

Brussels, which had previously contributed EUR 1.2 million to the Adaptation Fund in 2013 and EUR 0.5 million in 2014, marks the third region of Belgium to contribute to the Fund this year and sixth overall contributor in 2016. Its new pledge also represents a substantial increase over its earlier contributions to the Fund.

“We are extremely grateful for Brussels’ renewed and increased commitment to help developing countries adapt to climate change through the Adaptation Fund. We are further pleased and overwhelmed by this continuing momentum of support for the Fund from a broad range of supporters,” said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Naresh Sharma. “It shows that the Fund’s effective, concrete localized projects being delivered on the ground to the most vulnerable countries affected by climate change carry a lot of importance and weight in making a positive impact for communities with urgent adaptation needs.”

The support extended by three regional governments also reflects a growing trend of subnational governments investing in climate change adaptation. For example, Belgium has both a national adaptation strategy and several regional adaptation plans. Furthermore, the Adaptation Fund focuses on meeting the adaptation needs of vulnerable communities based on national and subnational plans with local stakeholders driving the effectiveness and sustainability of projects.

“The Adaptation Fund was the first climate fund to receive a pledge from a regional government a few years ago, when Brussels announced its initial pledge in early 2013,” said Adaptation Fund Interim Manager Mikko Ollikainen. “This strengthens our growing base of contributors and their trust in our work, as well as our ability to reach more vulnerable communities with urgently needed effective and localized projects.”

The now approximately US$ 84 million raised by the Adaptation Fund for the year represents a nearly US$ 10 million increase over the amount it raised last year during COP21 in Paris. The rising momentum for the Fund additionally goes in hand in hand with a key decision taken in the final hours of COP22 in Morocco, when the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA) decided that “the Adaptation Fund should serve the Paris Agreement” following subsequent decisions to be taken by COP24 in 2018.

That represents a significant advance in the Fund’s roadmap toward serving the Paris Agreement since it was originally included in the decisions adopting the agreement last year, which stated that the Fund “may serve the agreement” subject to a process that was to be continued in Marrakech. The Fund’s work is pivotal in this process since the Paris Agreement’s goals call for a balance between mitigation and adaptation.

Brussels’ new pledge reaffirms Marrakech’s positive results, which are an indicator of wide support for the Fund’s pioneering Direct Access modality giving developing countries the opportunity to access finance and develop projects directly through accredited national implementing entities (NIEs) while building their own capacity to adapt to climate change. The Fund now has 25 NIEs with the capability to develop projects throughout the world, and a robust and growing Readiness program that offers technical assistance and south-south grants, as well as workshops on the accreditation and project development processes for additional organizations interested in becoming accredited.

ABOUT the ADAPTATION FUND

Since 2010, the Adaptation Fund has committed US $357.5 million to support 55 concrete, localized climate adaptation and resilience projects in 48 countries, with more than 3.7 million direct beneficiaries.

Communications: Matthew Pueschel, mpueschel@adaptation-fund.org or +1-202-473-6743.

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