Communities living in vulnerable areas in the Global South are hit hardest by the effects of climate change and are least prepared to adapt to its impacts. Deforestation and unsustainable agriculture have led to degradation of the ecological foundation of the landscapes that provide water, food, energy and climate resilience. Landscape degradation exacerbates people’s vulnerability to the harmful effects of climate change.
Global climate finance is increasing but there are two major challenges: First, not enough finance is dedicated to climate adaptation and second, very little of this finance reaches local communities in the Global South. Mobilising More for Climate (MoMo4C) aims to overcome these challenges in various ways.
Developing viable business cases for climate adaptation and mitigation
Various stakeholders are joining forces to develop climate resilient landscapes that attract investments and allow communities and vital ecosystems to thrive. MoMo4C supports local civil society organisations to develop business cases for inclusive and environmentally effective solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation. Communities and other stakeholders in the landscape are closely involved in the development of these business cases. MoMo4C aims to attract public and private finance to develop and scale up climate action.
Local climate solutions do not match funding opportunities
Mainstream agriculture, forestry and other economic activities tend to have short-term profits, but can have long-term negative consequences for the natural landscape. Often, they degrade forests, grasslands and wetlands, they decline biodiversity and they contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Solutions in favour of climate resilience often do not find investments. Firstly, there is a deficiency of convincing business cases: projects with a cash flow that allows a pay-back loan with interest. Secondly, investors are often not ambitious in their social and environmental targets, and they lack knowledge of the risks that their investments face if they don’t take climate, people and nature into account. As a result, they do not invest in risk reducing and more sustainable production methods and nature based-solutions for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Bridging the gap between finance and climate solutions in three steps
To address the problems that climate finance is facing, MoMo4C has a two-way approach: business case development and redirecting financial flows. MoMo4C bridges the gap between local solutions that enhance climate adaptation and mitigation and funding opportunities to scale up such initiatives. It aims to improve climate resilience across six landscapes in Africa and Southeast Asia by convincing conventional investors to divest their money into more sustainable practices, as well as increasing the pipeline for impact investors and public climate funds by supporting the development and implementation of scalable business cases. Inclusion and participation of youth and the entire gender spectrum in this two-way approach is pivotal.
MoMo4Climate’s two-way approach can be explained in three steps:
Step 1: Multi-stakeholder collaborations develop climate solutions
- Build the capacity of local civil society organisations and entrepreneurs
- Collaborate with communities, governments, investors and companies to develop joint strategies
- Anchor climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives in local and national policies
Step 2: Making the business case for climate solutions
- Identify and strengthen the business case for climate adaptation and mitigation
- Organise MoMo4C competitions to kick-start potential business cases and guide promising ideas to become ‘investor-ready’
Step 3: Share lessons and models with investors for scaling up
- Accelerate learning on successful business cases by development of investment blueprints
- Propose successful and scalable initiatives to funds and investors
Gender & youth inclusivity and participation
The impacts of climate change are not always evenly distributed among men and women, young and old. Women and youth can contribute significantly to community mobilisation and appeal to a level in the community that addresses all layers of society, allowing for better implementation and acceptance of needed change to ensure climate-resilient landscapes. Climate change interventions and policies that therefore take account of gender-based vulnerability and the unique contribution that women and youth can make could help advance gender equality and inclusiveness while simultaneously fighting climate change. Within MoMo4C we apply a gender responsive and transformative approach to ensure the engagement of youth, women and marginalised communities in the programme. In order to ensure a future-proof landscape, the true involvement and opportunities for climate-resilient business cases needs to be accessible to men, women, youth and marginalised groups alike.
