Vietnam’s access to climate finance to be strengthened

Vietnam has made a new step towards strengthening its access to climate finance by kicking off the development of a Vietnamese version of a Climate Finance Options platform. Representatives from the Government, development partners and other stakeholders met in Ha Noi on November 16th 2011 to discuss critical elements and priorities of the national version of the platform.

With more than 60 sources of climate finance listed on international climate finance websites and more sources are being created. It is clear that the climate finance landscape is complex. The financial sources are governed by a diverse set of rules, procedures and conditions. Yet developing countries like Vietnam are in great need of climate finance for adaptation and for low-carbon development. UNDP and the World Bank have jointly developed the global Climate Finance Options platform - an internet-based tool to provide a comprehensive picture of a wide range of funds available from multilateral and bilateral institutions to public and private sources options available to developing countries. It also provides clear guidance on steps on how to get access to these sources of funds. Participants at the workshop discussed in detail their information needs in Vietnam and developed a term of reference for the national version of the platform. The national platform is expected to enable Vietnamese policy makers, project developers and private sector to better access climate finance and enhance the use of climate finance options. This will support the forthcoming national strategies on climate change and green growth.

Mr Ari Huhtala, a member of the Climate Finance Options team, briefed the participants on climate finance sources and Mr Daniel Buckley, from the global platform, introduced them to the structure and function of climate finance options.

Bakhodir Burkhanov, UNDP Country Director, joined the discussion and highlighted the need to have transparent accounting and reporting mechanisms on the use of climate finance and a coherent mechanism to manage the funding. "This is essential in order to maximize access to climate finance," he noted. He also stressed that domestic and private finance would be the main sources for climate change adaptation and mitigation investments.

The workshop is timely in the context of the upcoming 17th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in South Africa at the end of this month. Climate finance is one of the top priorities to be discussed and agreed upon in Durban. Khac Kien