Democratizing climate finance governance and the public funding of climate action

Addressing climate change - its causes, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and its worst impacts on some of the poorest countries and societal groups - requires many billions of dollars. A significant portion of short- and long-term finance will have to come from industrialized countries in the form of public money transferred to developing countries, for private sector investment and carbon markets are unlikely to be sufficient. This is not only an international treaty obligation of the historic polluter countries, but also a matter of upholding human rights. However, nothing less than the democratization of climate finance governance is needed. Democratic core principles such as accountability, transparency and public and gender-equitable participation in decision-making must guide the mobilization of public climate funding, and the governance and administration of these resources and their allocation to recipients. Citizens in contributing and recipient countries have a right and an obligation to be informed about and involved in how public money is utilized to address climate change. Only then will concrete mitigation and adaptation action be effective, efficient and equitable.