Adaptation Fund Recognized for Continuing Effort to Help ‘Green’ UN Global COP Climate Conference

Adaptation Fund Recognized for Continuing Effort to Help ‘Green’ UN Global COP Climate Conference

Washington, D.C. (March 7, 2017) — For the second straight year, the Adaptation Fund has earned a ‘Green’ rating from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for its concerted effort to go paperless and help reduce the carbon footprint of the large two-week international COP22 climate conference held this past November in Marrakech, Morocco.

The Adaptation Fund’s side event at COP22 on Family and Community Agriculture: Developing and Implementing Sustainable Climate-Resilient Solutions was one of 110 (from 201 events) to receive the UNFCCC’s highest green rating for its “exemplary commitment” to disseminate all of its materials by electronic means only. The Fund also received a green rating the previous year for its side event at COP21 in Paris, one of just 39% of side events to receive the highest UNFCCC green rating that year.

In addition to its side event at COP22, the Adaptation Fund further displayed a commitment to sustainability and greening of the conference through a multimedia exhibit featuring photos and videos of Fund projects and a COP22 website dedicated to sharing all of the Fund’s key information, news and activities related to the conference electronically. The Fund additionally shared its materials electronically through the UNFCCC’s side event and exhibitor webpages, as well as social media.

“We are very pleased to receive the UNFCCC green rating for the second year in a row for our commitment to contribute to the greening of these extremely important international COP climate change conferences,” said Adaptation Fund Board Chair Naresh Sharma. “In addition to our commitment to help the most vulnerable communities around the world adapt to climate change, this sets an example in a symbolic way of the urgently needed collective action to address this challenge globally. We hope to continue this cooperation at future meetings.”

“This is good news,” added Mikko Ollikainen, Interim Manager of the Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat. “It reflects our strong commitment to lessen the carbon impact of the COP, while being aligned with our core mission to help vulnerable countries build resilience to climate change.”

The Adaptation Fund is building momentum from its outcomes at COP22. It raised about US $81.5 million in new pledges in 2016 (based on current exchange rates), surpassing its resource mobilization goal for the year of US$ 80 million. The commitments reflected widening recognition of the Fund’s concrete, effective projects in vulnerable communities throughout the world and its pioneering finance mechanisms such as Direct Access that build developing countries’ capacity to adapt to climate change. The Morocco conference parties also strengthened the language of the Fund’s original inclusion in the landmark Paris Agreement by deciding that the ‘Adaptation Fund should serve the Agreement’ following decisions to be taken at COP24 in 2018.

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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