JOINT STATEMENT OF THE IMPROVED AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO CLIMATE FINANCE NETWORK 

We, members of the Improved and Equitable Access Network on climate finance for countries affected by climate change, conflict, and high levels of humanitarian needs - bearing the brunt of climate change despite our minimal contribution to its causes, so often forgotten by climate action - and participating in the Strategy Meeting of the Network, call for the international community to do more to close the climate finance gap for the world’s most climate vulnerable.

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More than half of the world’s 25 most climate-vulnerable countries are also affected by armed conflict, violence, or high levels of humanitarian need. Yet between 2014 and 2021, people affected by the most severe crises received just $2 per person in climate finance from some of the world’s largest climate funds – compared to $162 per person for non-fragile states.

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This conflict blind spot represents a damning failure at the heart of the international climate system. Despite commitments in the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals, and countless other accords, hundreds of millions of the world’s most climate vulnerable remain left behind by climate finance.

 

It is critical that we close this funding shortfall now. By 2030, these countries will need $41.5 billion per year to adapt to and mitigate climate change – but this is 280% higher than current spending, and 110% higher than existing commitments to scale up climate finance.

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Launched at the high-level session of the COP29 Peace, Relief and Recovery Day with the support and under the auspices of the COP29 Presidency, the Network is determined to bring this issue to the forefront and centre in climate discussions. We have long been calling for this gap to be closed, including most recently, in 2024, when governments representing 300 million people living in conflict- and crisis-affected states wrote to the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the UN and the presidents of COP28 and COP29, with a concrete target for increased finance and political willpower to address this issue.

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In response to the growing call by peoples of vulnerable countries and building upon the ground-breaking COP28 Climate, Peace, Relief and Recovery Declaration, the COP29 Presidency launched the Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery (Baku Call), which emphasised the urgent need for mobilisation of climate finance and support for the most climate-vulnerable countries affected also by conflict and humanitarian crisis and offered action-oriented solutions to achieve this objective. Furthermore, the Baku Call established the Baku Climate and Peace Action Hub (Baku Hub), forming for the first time in the history of climate diplomacy a concrete mechanism aimed at “fostering further action to deliver on identified solutions” for the benefit of climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected countries. The Baku Call also encouraged the work of the COP 29 Presidency with relevant Parties, with a special focus on “facilitation of a network of vulnerable countries”. Thus the Baku Call identified as one of the main mandates of the Baku Hub “maintaining a dialogue with and supporting a network of the most vulnerable countries to achieve the strengthening of national capacities, local ownership, efficiency and accountability of joint actions”.

 

However, despite this remarkable ground work by consecutive COP Presidencies and numerous international pledges to leave no one behind and support the most vulnerable to adapt to climate change, we have seen little practical progress. The time for rhetoric is over; the time for action is now. We, the affected countries, must lead this effort. In this regard, the Network, while committing to work hard in achieving its members’ joint objective and aspiration, calls both upon its members, fellow state parties and other stakeholders to:

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1. Endorse the Baku Call as an important framework to expedite scaling up of international support to climate-vulnerable and conflict-affected countries, calls for endorsement of the Call by all UNFCCC Parties, in particular fellow Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States;

2. Acknowledge the practical cooperation by the COP29 Presidency, in fulfilling the mandate of the Baku Hub, with its Co-leads, partners and the COP28 Presidency, and invites them and other relevant stakeholders to work closely with the Network in delivering concrete results;  

3. Call for meaningful steps to be taken to transform the climate finance architecture so it works for conflict and humanitarian settings. This means climate funds must amend their processes, incentive structures and timelines to be more suitable for 'unstable’ contexts – and that they properly factor in the costs and risks of inaction;  

4. Underline that our objective is not just a question of increasing finance flows and that helping countries to move beyond coping with crises, and to build forward better – becoming more stable, prosperous and climate-resilient – will require more effective use of the finance we have. In this regard we call on the international community to support more concerted, coordinated action on climate mitigation, adaptation, peacebuilding, development and disaster risk reduction – creating the foundations for countries and communities to better develop markets, institutions and support systems that help them to adapt to climate risks;

5. Welcome the Baku Hub and its partners’ offer to develop a pipeline of projects in several relevant countries, to be elaborated further at the Vulnerability Forum to be held in Azerbaijan later this year, and we call upon all relevant stakeholders to work together closely to cooperate and streamline their work in this field;

6. Call on all relevant stakeholders to coordinate their activities with the Baku Hub Co-lead partnership and to further implement joint action including through organising relevant coordination meetings at major climate events through 2025 and invites our members to actively participate in those events;  

7. Call upon COP Troika to ensure continuity of the peace, relief and recovery agenda, including at COP30, and offers to work closely in support. We are ready to closely work with co-organisers of this meeting with a view to launching concrete, action oriented, transparent and efficient focus projects at the Baku Hub Dialogue to be held in Belem.

 

Formally issuing this Statement, the Network stands ready to work collectively and to be partners in these efforts. We call on the international community to meet its commitments and work with us.