Increased climate funding requires a focus on existing governance challenges resulting from a fragmented and opaque climate finance architecture. Growing evidence shows climate finance does not reach communities most impacted by climate change. When projects make their way to the communities, they do not include local voices in decision-making processes. 

Civil society has been a critical player advocating for the most vulnerable communities and has been instrumental in driving local, regional, and global climate action. Despite setbacks and slow response from governments, it has been able to rally around common agendas demanding an end to fossil fuel, debt relief to climate-vulnerable countries, increased funding for climate adaptation mitigation, and most recently, at COP28, set up a loss and damage fund. By demanding citizens and civil society be at the heart of climate finance to direct funding, implement solutions, and hold decision-makers accountable for effective and equitable climate finance and action, civil society has an opportunity to deliver green accountability outcomes for people and the planet. 

For the past several months, Accountability Lab has been carrying out civil society advocacy and asset mapping to better understand what roles civil society is willing and able to play in ensuring green accountability. Given the local, regional, and global efforts, it is impossible for a single organization to identify all civil society efforts. Instead, we aim to create an open resource to mobilize collective civil society voices around the green accountability agenda. Here, we highlight some observations from the mapping exercise. 

From designing digital tools to convening stakeholders to creative storytelling, civil society efforts are diverse. Dashboards like Climate Funds Update, Pacific Climate Change Finance Tracking Tool, and States’ Financing for Climate Action track climate finance, providing crucial climate funding data. Given a lack of transparency and accountability in climate funding, digital platforms like these provide an entry point to understanding the current climate finance landscape and where the gaps are. Initiatives through networks like Sharing Strategies, and Climate Action Network allow diverse communities to share information and devise collective advocacy to influence climate finance decisions. Similarly, civil society has used different mediums, such as videos, photobooks, to tell stories of communities impacted by climate change and how they adapt to new realities. 

Despite these efforts, civil society is not seen as an equal partner. It is not a surprise that civil society continues to be seen as a disruptor rather than a contributor to climate solutions. Even in spaces where civil society is invited, they cannot participate meaningfully. An example is the “observer” status that civil society organizations (CSOs) have in major climate funds. Some efforts have been made to open up the space for CSOs. For instance, the Green Climate Fund’s CSO Observer Network works closely with the Independent Integrity Units to develop their policies, rules, and procedures, and CSOs have an opportunity to participate in participatory monitoring and evaluation in GCF funded projects. However, these participatory mechanisms are often not communicated effectively, as noted in this report. 

Effective advocacy requires having a common voice among an “unlikely network.” Climate change is a global public goods crisis, requiring collective effort from actors working across different sectors, disciplines, and geographical regions. The green accountability landscape includes prominent global campaigning organizations, think tanks and policy influencers, and grassroots organizations with incredible local knowledge. However, civil society efforts can be piecemeal and stove-piped. While global campaigners are demanding more funding for climate action, the opportunity to emphasize the “quality” of the funding is being missed. Similarly, policy recommendations and regional and global decision-making fail to consider local realities, indigenous knowledge, and experiences. 

Civil society is connecting the dots around climate change and other governance challenges. Climate change is no longer an issue solely for climate change activists. The trillions of dollars flowing into climate-vulnerable countries are marred with governance challenges, and addressing them will require synergies between climate change and governance activists. Civil society organizations working on various issues, from fighting corruption to ensuring budget transparency to designing tech solutions, are expanding their scope and defining their roles in addressing the climate crisis. The mammoth task lies in coordinating civil society efforts to break existing silos and laying out collective demands around green accountability.

Sanjeeta Pant