Skip to main content

Climate Finance Integrity Forum 2017

CLIMATE FINANCE INTEGRITY FORUM

On the 3rd of April 2017, TI-Korea, in collaboration with Institute for Climate Change Action, and Korea Green Foundation, held a forum in Seoul on climate finance governance integrity and related environmental transparency and accountability topics.

The said event aimed at raising greater awareness about climate finance with three broad topics, including action and resources for climate integrity, climate finance in and from Korea, and South Korea’s actionable next steps.

Mr Sun-Hi Lee, TI-Korea’s co-chairperson, commenced the event by outlining the primary objectives of the forum. Sun-Hi, in particular, mentioned raising awareness of climate issues among Korean citizens and other relevant stakeholders, exploring the establishment of a working group to work on climate integrity issues, and encouraging the Korean civil society to identify areas of policy. The recommendation should aim to strengthen and develop an action plan for reforms and to push the government to establish climate finance anti-corruption policies.

climate-finance-forum
Sun Hi Lee, former TI Korea Chair

Mr Weert Borner, the Deputy of Mission from the German Embassy in Seoul, shared his thoughts and support for TI-Korea’s activities on climate finance integrity. He emphasized the need for all governments and various stakeholders to be more vigilant and active in promoting transparency in climate finance projects. Also, he congratulated the organizers and hoped for the success of the event and our future endeavors.

climate-finance-forum
Mr Weert Boerner, German Embassy

Lisa Elges, Head of Climate Policy, Transparency International, presented her topic on climate integrity with an emphasis on action and resources. As a piece of introductory information, she discussed the climate finance activity impacts on mitigation and adaptation, the Paris Agreement, and the support to developing countries/regions for various development and climate-resilient livelihood, among other relevant points.  More specifically, Lisa emphasized the need for climate finance integrity so that the “climate money achieve impact and is not wasted or misused for unintended purposes.” To achieve climate integrity, various steps for climate accountability should be taken, such as implementing the multiple processes in measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of climate finance.

climate-finance-forum-seoul
Lisa Ann Elges, Ph.D

The second speaker, Professor Suh-Yong Chung, talked about climate finance in and from South Korea. He presented the various aspects of climate finance in South Korea and its financial support for climate change gas emissions reduction being channeled through overseas development assistance programs, including the country’s support for the Green Climate Fund’s programmes and activities.

climate-finance-forum
Prof Suh Yong Chung

Mi-Kyoung Lee of Korea Green Foundation’s Executive Director talked about the actionable next steps of South Korea about climate integrity. Ms. Lee discussed what the Korean civil society could do locally to reduce climate gas emissions and what sort of climate finance policies should we push, which the government should establish. For such visions to be realized, she said that there should be a collective mind and effort among various stakeholders, disclosure of information and proper evaluation and enforcement of relevant processes in the national ministries, and expand the participation of citizens in climate finance-related issues.

climate-finance-integrity-forum
Ms Mi-Kyong Lee

Right after the presentations from the speakers, a panel discussion was held with the participation of the three speakers. The panel was moderated by Dr. Byong Ok Ahn, head of the Institution for Change Climate Action in Seoul. During the activate question and answer portion, the consensus is that for climate finance and its related activities to be successful, the interaction between the government (relevant institutions and officials) and the civil society is the key. For instance, the concerned government agencies and public servants should be more transparent and supportive enough by disclosing climate finance information to be publicly accessible. On the civil society’s side, they should be keen on monitoring governmental activities on climate finance and gather heads together to create and propose policy recommendations on climate finance that can strengthen either their lack or absence thereof.

Finally, right before the three-hour event was closed, a climate finance Working Group was suggested to be organized. A plan to draw up a collaborative policy recommendation on climate finance and environmental integrity was presented to the participants.  The product of the planned collaboration, which was readily agreed by those present, will be submitted to relevant government ministries and seek its approval and incorporation in the existing applicable laws and policies.

Climate Finance Integrity Forum finished on time at around 6 PM.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Climate and COP Negotiations Lobbying Crisis

 Climate and COP Lobbying Crisis The climate crisis is a pressing concern that must be addressed rapidly and effectively with concrete action. How?  Climate crisis issues can be resolved by reducing emissions and increasing renewable energy sources, transitioning to a Circular Economy, investing in green infrastructure, and adopting holistic strategies that address the underlying causes of climate change. These measures are essential if we are to avoid catastrophic environmental consequences. Furthermore, they create an opportunity for innovation and economic growth by developing and implementing new low-carbon technologies and sustainable business models. It is also essential to build resilience and adaptive capacity in our communities. This means investing in infrastructure that helps people cope with the impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise, extreme weather events, and flooding, among other methods. It also involves developing innovative approaches to reduce em...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Young Views on Climate Change

 My Views on Climate Change Climate Change Street Campaign By Sydney Sohn   Climate change has been a topic of concern for several years now. However, it is 2022, and action must be taken to slow the rate of climate change before it becomes irreversible. If current climate actions such as less transparency and other day-to-day environmental activities we take continue, it can easily and rapidly create a damaged world for future generations. To begin, a core negatively impacting climate action is less transparency. Some examples of non-transparent activities by companies are Amazon, Apple, and Google, as they do not publicly demonstrate support for anti-corruption on their website [1]. We will not be able to win the fight against climate change without being transparent because if countries globally do not put effort into becoming transparent on their climate contributions, we will never leave the "planning" stage [2]. We would not be able to reach the point where it is time t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Proposals for COP26: Undue Influence on Climate Policy

Proposals for COP26: Undue Influence on Climate Policy Photo Credit: popsci.com Make countries legally accountable should they run counter to their climate commitments The COP should establish policies that push (if possible legal measures) member countries to fulfill their climate action commitments. The policies should apply to member states who promised to keep the global temperature to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Centigrade but are likely to fail their targets due to lack of political will, conflicts of interest, and undue influence, or other related integrity issues. Such countries that need to act should be those that have "critically insufficient" and "highly insufficient" climate actions based on scientific and credible measurement systems, such as the Climate Action Tracker's system. [1] These countries include member states still maintaining and building coal plants as sources of energy, such as South Korea, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China. These samp...
Post a Comment
Read more