NEWS

In the context of declining revenue for the Adaptation Fund, the newly elected Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board, Hans Olav Ibrekk (Norway), has called on donors to fill in the funding gap with voluntary contributions.

In an interview with Espen Røst, Bistandsaktuelt, reproduced on the Adaptation Fund website, Ibrekk notes that despite allocating $165 million to projects in 25 countries over the past two years, the Adaptation Fund’s revenue has almost completely dried up, as carbon credits are the main source of financing for the fund. The Chair specifically calls on Norway to increase its funding for adaptation, which currently represents approximately 15% of its climate change funding.

He also underscores that relying on market mechanisms for funding the Adaptation Fund is a risky solution to adaptation financing. Ibrekk notes that it is easier for donor countries to leverage private investments in climate change mitigation, than convincing private resources to contribute to adaptation, beyond protecting investments. The Adaptation Fund receives a 2% share of proceeds of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs), and despite generating approximately $188 million over recent years from carbon markets, the weak compliance carbon market is likely to only generate approximately $25 million annually through 2020. As a result, the Adaptation Fund has been pursuing additional revenue streams.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides interim secretariat services to the Adaptation Fund, and the World Bank serves as its interim trustee. []