Earth Today | Adaptation Fund launches new grants to accelerate innovation

BUILDING ON its pioneering, effective and scalable adaptation actions on the ground, the Adaptation Fund launched three new small grant-funding windows during the recent global climate change conference, held in Katowice, Poland.

"The new funding windows were approved at the Fund's board meeting in October and build on its excellent work across action, innovation, and learning and sharing in adaptation. They are a key component in the implementation of the Fund's five-year, medium-term strategy from 2018-2022," said a release from the Fund's secretariat.

The new grants total US$5 million initially and are available now to the Fund's national implementing entities (NIEs) under its pioneering Direct Access modality, which builds country capacities and fosters ownership in adaptation.

The grants will contribute to implement the Fund's medium-term strategy to respond to the urgency of climate change by accelerating and enhancing the quality of adaptation actions in developing countries, scaling up innovative and quality projects, and disseminating knowledge of effective Fund actions.

Innovative, concrete, effective and scalable Fund projects have been common themes across several of the Fund's events at the recent Poland talks.

"As we have seen by the recent IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports and the record demand for projects that the Adaptation Fund has been receiving, it is important to respond to these challenges in innovative and diverse ways," noted Adaptation Fund Board Chair Victor Vinas in the release.

"The medium-term strategy strives to do this while building on the Fund's excellent concrete work on the ground. These new grant-funding windows are a great example of that," he added.

According to manager of the secretariat, Mikko Ollikainen: "Often, Adaptation Fund projects are the first adaptation projects on the ground in many vulnerable places around the world. Not only do our projects help vulnerable communities reduce suffering and adapt to climate change now, but they also provide valuable models that can later be replicated or scaled up by others."

"That has happened in several instances already. These grants will help to accelerate that further, as well as share knowledge of effective and innovative adaptation practices and tools," he added.

They cover three grant types: scaling up effective projects, sharing knowledge of effective actions, and accelerating innovation in adaptation. They vary from US$100,000 to US$250,000 per grant.

INNOVATION

The Fund is also to offer innovation grants through an alternative route next year, for countries that do not have NIEs, with expected additional funding to be administered through an 'innovation facility'. Two of the Fund's multilateral implementing partners, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) will serve as the new facility's funding aggregators.

The innovation facility will encourage, accelerate and foster innovation in adaptation, including through the private sector.

"The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) is pleased to bring our experience, and the expertise of our 460-plus network members, to support countries in innovating for adaptation through the new Adaptation Fund Innovation window," said Jukka Uosukainen, director of CTCN, the operational arm of the UNFCCC Technology Mechanism hosted by UN Environment.