Climate Finance Fundamentals 2: The Global Climate Finance Architecture

Climate finance remains central to achieving low-carbon, climate resilient development. The global climate finance architecture is complex and always evolving. Funds flow through multilateral channels – both within and outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Paris Agreement financial mechanisms – and increasingly through bilateral, as well as through regional and national climate change channels and funds. Monitoring the flows of climate finance is difficult, as there is no agreed definition of what constitutes climate finance or consistent accounting rules. The wide range of climate finance mechanisms continues to challenge coordination and defy cohesion. But efforts to increase inclusiveness and complementarity, as well as to simplify access, continue.