Intensify mobilization for climate finance

The UN meeting in Marrakesh boiled down to finance to combat climate change. Even as the conference addressed many crucial issues, the one to top it all was how to fund adaptation and mitigation against environmental dangers and meet costs of clean technologies. The developing countries insisted that the rich nations should keep their commitments to provide money to help them make the transition from coal to renewables. The UN also called for more funds for adaptation — building dykes or elevating homes as protection against surging seas,
improving weather warning systems and growing climate-resistant crops.
In 2009, the developed nations had vowed to provide $100 billion every year from 2020 in climate aid. However, the UNEP has underlined that $300 billion could be required by 2030 for adaptation alone. The rich nations which mobilize climate finance must realize that it actually is an investment that will help them in the future. They need to become partners in the economic change that the funding will bring about in the developing or poorer countries.
Climate finance needs political commitment. Without it, the Paris pact will fizzle out. The climate diplomats and experts who met at Marrakesh maintained that boosting finance for projects to prevent global warming was the need of the hour. While pledging to curb carbon emissions, it is imperative that financing is shored up by the governments. The world has to increase political action on climate and strengthen cooperation among the stakeholders. Renewables need an enhanced impetus and so do adaptation schemes in government plans.
The first ten months of 2016 have been recorded as the hottest on record. The rapid sea rise is gobbling up land. Extreme weather events are increasing with alarming frequency. The world leaders have to understand the urgency of the situation and finalize plans that can compensate countries for loss and
damage from climate change. The Marrakesh meet has deliberated upon the issue and it is hoped that the agenda they have prepared will help environmental victims.
It is absolutely critical that the climate fund is channelized properly so that adaptation and mitigation is brought about by energy efficiency and use of
non-conventional energy sources like solar and wind. The countries which are vulnerable to climate change need to be given a major chunk of climate finance because they have to be made more resilient than others. Besides, the watchdogs have to ensure that the funds are utilized through an efficient mechanism. For the countries who get the funds, the optimum results from finance will depend on a good governance where there is coordination and cooperation between various departments.
Climate adaptation, emission reduction and clean technology shift require massive investment. The world can fight climate change when it builds capacity of the vulnerable nations to withstand its impacts. It is important that efforts to mobilize financial resources for this purpose are intensified.
Climate-friendly national policies will pave the way for the finance to be invested in development schemes that offer environmental sustainability. Private and public sector coordination will decide the success of all such programmes.