Climate justice through a finance lens: Highlights from the latest episode of Accelerating Climate Solutions

One incredible perk of my role with the Global Alliance for the Future of Food is that I get to have fascinating conversations with people who are passionate about building a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy world — through their many professions and callings.

Earlier this month, I was delighted to sit down with Sara Jane Ahmed as part of our podcast Accelerating Climate Solutions, co-hosted with Foundations Platform F20. Among her many roles, Sara is the Finance Advisor to the Vulnerable Group of Twenty (V20) Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum. My co-host Stefan Schurig and I were keen to hear from Sara about how climate justice and the world of finance can mix.

Our conversation got quite technical at times and was wide-reaching in scope. It touched on the role of many actors and stakeholders, and how we all have a role to play in advocating for climate justice in our work and funding — an “all hands on deck” approach, if you may.

In case you don’t have time to listen to our full 40-minute conversation, here are some key points from the episode:

• Early on, Sara defined “vulnerability” in terms of the countries she works with through V20. She gave the example of her home country of the Philippines, which in one year was hit with over 15 typhoons, a volcanic eruption, and the effects of COVID-19. The allocated funds the country had to deal with these disruptions were depleted by early 2020. Whether it’s intensified weather events, food shortages, or a global pandemic, Ahmed really drove home that these issues are systemic and interconnected, and that they culminate to adversely and unequally affect vulnerable populations. She noted that it’s key to recognize the many dimensions of vulnerability, be they physical, economic, social, and/or environmental.
• Sara articulated the importance of channelling finance to sub-national and community levels as a way to ensure the equitable allocation of funding. The current system is top-down and supply-driven, which means funds are not always reaching the places where science, data, and practice point to a critical vulnerability. According to Sara, observing the amount of resources directed to communities is one indicator that climate justice is being taken seriously or not. This message struck me in that it echoes one of the Global Alliance’s 7 calls to action to unlock investment opportunities for national actors (in our case these are food systems actors).
• Looking ahead to COP27 in Egypt, Sara also spoke to the importance of loss and damage funding — channelling more money from developed (and higher polluting countries) to vulnerable nations so they address the toll of climate change on lives lost, livelihoods, and infrastructure. The V20 is pioneering this work, and the coalition is advocating for loss and damage funding to be part of the toolkit available to vulnerable countries.
• Philanthropic capital is important to mobilize, especially for climate vulnerable countries. She pointed out that philanthropic capital is often highly flexible and quicker to deploy when compared to national and multilateral finance. As a result, it could provide valuable early stage capital for vulnerable countries in need of funds to transition to renewables, deal with the shocks of extreme weather events, and be proactive about climate change mitigation measures.
• We talked about climate justice through two lenses. The first was justice for Global South nations that are the most vulnerable to climate change while also contributing least to global greenhouse gas emissions. The second was the intergenerational perspective on climate justice — climate action demands by young environmental activists so they can continue to experience the same world that has nourished past generations. Sara pointed out that these two perspectives combine when you consider that a lot of climate vulnerable countries have young populations.

As the leader of a principles-based organization, this conversation really resonated with me. I want to thank Sara for reminding us that justice is a key principle to embed in all of our work (within climate finance, food systems, and beyond).

What you’ve read here are my highlights from our chat — the actual episode gets into more technicalities around climate finance and it’s a highly relevant listen for those working in or interested in this space.

Have feedback on the episode or this summary piece? We’d love to pick up the conversation on Twitter or LinkedIn!