Ireland announces €2.5 million support, at COP27, for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) climate finance activities

Sharm El-Sheikh, November 16, 2022: While attending the United Nations climate talks – COP27 – Irish Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan announced funding support of €2.5 million to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) climate finance activities. 

A special report commissioned for COP27 found that by 2025, $1 trillion in investment per year will be needed to cut greenhouse gases and increase climate action in developing and emerging economies. This rises to $2.4 trillion per year by 2030.

As part of its new Strategic Plan (2022-2025), UNDP is scaling its financing work with the aim of promoting over $1 trillion investment of public expenditure and private capital in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Plan recognizes that strong partnerships – with governments and the private sector – are central to achieving this. Key to this are financial centres, with the UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) network primed to play a leading role.

A network of 39 members across Asia, Africa, the Americas, the Gulf and Europe, with Irish support FC4S is now scaling up its activities. Forming part of this programme of work, Irish support will be utilised to establish the UNDP FC4S SDG Pipeline Builder programme. The aim of the Pipeline Builder is to provide investors with opportunities to support emerging market and developing economies with country-level SDG aligned investable projects. Initial activities have been planned in Kenya and Nigeria, in partnership with UNDP FC4S members Nairobi International Financial Centre and FC4S Lagos.

This initiative supports existing UNDP activities, in particular the SDG Investor Maps, a market intelligence tool that identifies investment opportunity areas for private investment aligned with national development plans. To date, through UNDP’s support, 15 countries in Africa have now developed their SDG Investor Maps.

Minister Eamon Ryan, Irish Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, said: ““The scale of the challenge we face with climate change is beyond compare. We have to work hard and fast, together, if we have any chance of addressing them. There is no opt out. There is no easy route, starting with how we finance our ambitions. Delivering on our collective climate goals will require mobilising even greater levels of sustainable financing. Through our support of the UNDP FC4S initiative we are maximising the potential for achieving the SDGs by ensuring that emerging markets and the developing economies efforts are being supported. As an established financial centre, Ireland is building a strong track record in sustainable finance and we look forward to working with our UN partners to accelerate international efforts in this space.”  

“As people across the globe witness the effects of an intensifying climate emergency in 2022, UNDP is working with our partners to unlock $1 trillion in sustainable finance that is pivotal to tackle climate change, protect our natural world and drive progress across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals,” says UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner. “Financial Centres, defined by their cutting-edge expertise in mobilising sustainable finance will be a fulcrum to achieve this moonshot, which seems a huge figure on face value yet represents just 0.24% of total global wealth.”

Stephen Nolan, Managing Director, UNDP FC4S network noted: “A UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub flagship initiative, today FC4S members collectively represent US$84 trillion equity market capitalisation, with members based in Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Gulf and Europe. Minister Ryan’s support will allow FC4S turbocharge its support to our members, particularly those in emerging market and developing economies, with a particular emphasis on mobilising greater amounts of capital required to meet the Paris Agreement and SDGs.” 

ENDS 

Further media information:   

Ayesha Babar, UNDP  

Email: Ayesha.babar@undp.org  

Notes for editors: 

COP27  

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP27 – is bringing together heads of state, ministers, and negotiators, along with climate activists, mayors, civil society representatives and CEOs in November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for the largest annual gathering on climate action. COP27 will build on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling the climate emergency and deliver on the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement – from urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, and adapting to the inevitable impacts of climate change, to delivering on the commitments to finance climate action in developing countries.  As the focus at this year’s conference moves to adaptation to climate change, the role of private finance in building societal resilience to physical climate change impacts is key.  

UNDP Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S)

Established end-2018, the Financial Centres for Sustainability (FC4S) Network is a network of 39 financial centres working together to achieve the objectives set by the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement. FC4S was born out of Italy’s G7 Presidency in 2017. Financial centres are of primary importance to the structure, function, and dynamics of the global economy, north and south where interlocking financial activities such as banking, capital markets, and insurance are concentrated. Through regulatory, coordination and investment channels, financial centres can fundamentally shape the incentives of individual companies to integrate aspects of sustainable development into regular business. The global scale of the collective’s vision is best represented by the regional variety of members across Asia, Africa, the Americas, the Gulf and Europe, who all believe in driving convergence, exchanging experiences, and acting on shared priorities to accelerate the expansion of green and sustainable finance.

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Photo: UNDP COP27 pavilion: Eamon Ryan, Irish Minister of the Environment, Climate and Communications; and Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner, State of California and UNDP SIF member.