Accounting methods of climate fund questioned

Accounting methods of climate fund questioned

News:

In a paper titled “3 Essential “S” of Climate Finance- Scope, Scale and Speed: A Reflection”, submitted at the COP24, the Indian Finance Ministry has questioned climate finance values being reported by the developed countries as having being transferred to developing countries.

Important Facts:

Various issues highlighted in the paper:

1. Inconsistency in definition: Definitions of climate change finance used in various reports by developed countries were not consistent with the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
2. Low Finance: The finance provided by the developed nations till date is far lower than that originally promised by developed nations. According to the paper, the growth in the reported climate specific finance slowed down from 24% between 2014 and 2015 to 14% between 2015 and 2016
3. Over reporting: The ministry paper has referred to an assessment by Oxfam (2018) which states that the value of loans is being over reported
4. Issue of moral responsibility: The developing nations have been demanding that the developed nations (particularly USA) take historical and moral responsibility for being among the largest greenhouse gas emitters. Moral responsibility includes transfer of funds and technology to aid developing nations in adapting to climate change. However, India has argued that this has not been taken care of.