Evaluation of Belgian international climate finance

The Federal Government of Belgium, along with other countries listed in Annex II to the 1992 United Nations (UN) Climate Convention, committed to financially support developing countries in their climate actions. Countries’ current contributions to emissions reduction beyond 2020 are not consistent with the Paris temperature goal and need to be scaled up urgently. Even in a best-case scenario of sustained emission limitation, there will be severe unequal stress on agri-food systems, infrastructure, ecosystems and human health.

Least Developed Countries (LDCs), Small Island and Developing States (SIDs) and the African continent are most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, while they have least capacity to adapt. Therefore, the integration of climate action in international cooperation is fundamental to managing climate risks globally.

This project will evaluate to what extent Belgian federal climate finance meets the needs of the intervention countries and to what extent it makes an impact in line with the federal priorities. Recommendations for future climate finance spending priorities are an important aspect of this evaluation.

This investigation provided the following preliminary results:

  • To provide an independent assessment of the Federal Government’s policy to contribute to international climate finance. The evaluation focuses on the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the federal policy and resources used by different Belgian climate finance actors in the previous years;
  • To provide policy and operational recommendations for the various Belgian actors involved in defining and implementing Belgium’s commitment to climate finance, in order to shape federal climate finance in a post-2020 context. Concrete recommendations will focus on strategy development, the federal regulatory and institutional framework, climate finance instruments and channels.