UK Extends Support for Climate Finance in the Pacific

UK extends support for climate finance in the Pacific spanned over a two-year timeframe with potential for a second phase.

The British High Commission in Suva has unveiled a partnership support initiative aimed at enhancing the access, absorption, and effective delivery of Climate Finance for Pacific Island Countries and their associated projects.

This collaborative effort is set to span a two-year timeframe, with potential for a subsequent second phase. Managed through the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the investment receives backing from the UK’s Small Island Developing States Capacity and Resilience Programme (SIDAR). Aligned with the UK’s overarching international priority of addressing climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity decline, the endeavor to champion climate action and sustainability is closely intertwined with the pursuit of economic growth. Augmenting the ability to access and efficiently manage impactful climate finance has the potential to unlock avenues for low-carbon development, thereby contributing to the advancement of Pacific economies, poverty reduction, and mitigation of carbon emissions and climate-related consequences.

This strategic partnership is poised to reinforce the Pacific region’s resilience and adaptive capabilities in the face of climate change, while also steering it towards a low-carbon trajectory that is in harmony with its National Adaptation Plans and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitments. This will be realized through:

1. Integration of Long-Term Technical Advisors: Eminent experts will be integrated into Government institutions, aimed at bolstering institutional capacity to effectively access, absorb, and implement impactful climate finance.
2. Strategic Feasibility Studies: The collaborative initiative will encompass the completion of strategic feasibility studies, aimed at strengthening the implementation of climate finance and facilitating knowledge sharing.

Dr. Brian Jones, the British High Commissioner to Fiji, said, “The UK has nothing to teach the Pacific about resilience, but we have experience of working with large-scale global finance and have heard from Pacific partners that support and advice to access climate funding, absorb and implement it, is critical to progress in this area. We are excited to work through GGGI to offer technical expertise directly to Government institutions, to build sustainable capability to spend climate finance available here in the Pacific.”

Katerina Syngellakis, Pacific Regional Director of GGGI, emphasized, “This collaborative program builds on GGGIs experience in the region supporting Pacific Member States in accessing climate finance as partners embedded within government institutions. We are enthusiastic to be partnering with the UK to continue to advocate for and build capacity for climate finance for the Pacific.”

Source: BHC