This 2018 update of Climate Finance Fundamentals Brief #1 looks at relevant principles and criteria applicable to the mobilisation, the administration and governance, and the disbursement and implementation of climate change funding. Taken together, they offer a guiding framework for climate finance.
Such a framework is strengthened by adding a human rights perspective. While human rights obligations are not yet formally addressed in the UNFCCC nor the IPCC, the Paris Agreement in its pre-amble urges Parties in its climate actions to “respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights”, supporting expert legal analysis confirming their compatibility with the UNFCCC. Parties are signatories to, and thus obligated to uphold, existing international human rights covenants focusing on economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights as well as on women’s rights and gender equality. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) also has repeatedly warned of the effects of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights in numerous official statements and reports.
