At COP28, Canada announces funding and advocates for better access to resources for vulnerable countries

At COP28, the Honourable Minister Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced several initiatives totalling over $67 million to respond to the needs and priorities of developing countries. Most of these projects are funded under Canada’s $5.3 billion international climate finance commitment, which is jointly managed by Minister Guilbeault and the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of International Development.

These announcements will promote rapid access to resources and partnerships with developing countries and provide finance for five critical areas: loss and damage, adaptation, mitigation, climate governance, and halting and reversing biodiversity loss.

Loss and damage  

• $16 million to the fund announced at COP28, providing seed funding that builds on Canada’s efforts to address loss and damage in climate-vulnerable countries, following the decision to establish this fund at COP27. 
• $750,000 for the Global Shield Centre of Excellence on Gender-Smart Solutions, to help developing countries access financing for recovery from natural disasters and climate shocks, and enhance gender-specific approaches in the climate and disaster risk finance and insurance sector.

Adaptation

• $34.2 million to the Special Climate Change Fund, which supports the adaptation needs of small island developing states and strengthens technology transfer, innovation, and private sector engagement for adaptation. 
• $5 million to the Least Developed Countries Initiative for Adaptation and Resilience, to help put selected least-developed countries on climate-resilient development pathways.
• $5 million to Enhance Resilience to Climate Change and Biodiversity in the Iraqi Marshlands, a UNESCO World Heritage site, to build resilience in the deteriorating state of this extremely vulnerable and water-scarce region. By supporting the women who steward traditional knowledge, this project will strengthen communities’ resilience and make livelihoods more sustainable.  

Mitigation

• $2.2 million for bilateral projects to support the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Peru, and Senegal in support of the implementation of the Kigali Amendment of the Montréal Protocol, to be implemented in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme.  

Climate governance and capacity building

• $3 million to the Nationally Determined Contribution Partnership to support gender equality for nationally determined contribution planning and implementation in developing countries.
• $250,000 in supplementary contributions to the Climate Finance Access Network. This is in addition to Canada’s contribution of $5 million to build national technical capacity in the Caribbean by helping to structure applications for access to international climate finance funding.

Halting and reversing biodiversity loss

• $440,000 through the Enhanced Nature Legacy initiative to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Environment Outlook, to develop policy recommendations and best practices to jointly address not only biodiversity loss, but also climate change and pollution.
• $450,000 in 2023–2024 to support the Secretariat of the Forest Climate Leaders’ Partnership, which is working to accelerate global progress to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

These announcements reflect Canada’s commitment to climate finance as a key enabler of climate action around the world and build on other high-profile announcements from earlier this year, including $450 million to the second replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, the world’s largest dedicated climate change fund and a critical funding mechanism of the Paris Agreement.