G20 seeks to ease climate funding to cities

Climate funds need to make it easier for countries and especially individual cities to access resources, a G20 working group said in Brazil today.

Experts, representatives of G20 member countries and financial organizations gathered in Rio de Janeiro to discuss ways to leverage financing to face extreme climate events. The two-day event was hosted by the G20 — which Brazil presides over this year — the country's finance minister, global network Finance in Common (FiCS) and the Brazilian NGO climate and society institute (iCS).

Delegates agreed that climate funds — especially the green climate fund, the adaptation fund, the global environment facility fund and the special climate change fund, which will hold a combined $30bn in the next five years — need to allow better access for cities to combat climate change. That means easing bureaucracies and identifying bottlenecks, according to Ivan Oliveira, deputy secretary for sustainable development at Brazil's finance ministry.

Guaranteeing funding for climate projects can take many years, Oliveira said. But "climate change requires climate funds to deliver quickly," he added.

FiCS' chairman Remy Rioux — who is also the chief executive of France's development agency — pointed to the different accreditation processes for different climate funds as hindering climate financing. A single accreditation process would ease access, he added.

"We will do our best to find innovative financial solutions for climate resilience and resilient infrastructure," he said.

Climate projects should also be able to tap into multiple funds more easily, Oliveira said.

Rioux also called for the creation of an international guarantee fund to back individual national banks should they need resources to combat climate change. Additionally, local governments should be able to deal directly with climate funds, instead of having to work through the federal government, he added.

The director of Brazil's development bank Nelson Barbosa also noted that a lack of financial guarantees and exchange rate volatility hinder banks and country's ability to access climate funds.

The G20 working group will present a report with suggestions to address these issues in July, in Belem — the capital of northern Para state — Oliveira said. The city will also host Cop30 in 2025.

Rio Grande do Sul

Brazil's federal government is discussing a line of credit to southern Rio Grande do Sul state, which has been hit by heavy rainfall and historic flooding since late April, Barbosa said.

"A special line of credit will be needed for reconstruction," he said. "We already have lines for adaptation and mitigation and now we have to think about lines to take care of losses and damages. Reality has arrived, and development banks have to deal with the effects of the climate."

But he did not give further specifics on the measures.

On Monday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for the creation of an international fund backed by "people that pollute the planet" to aid Rio Grande do Sul. He has in the past called on rich nations to fund global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Rains in Rio Grande do Sul have left 161 people dead, 85 missing and over 581,600 people displaced, according to the state's civil defense. Rebuilding the state will cost over R19bn ($3.7bn), according to the state government.

By Lucas Parolin