Marshall Islands takes next steps on national climate finance mechanism
The Republic of the Marshall Islands’ Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination (OEPPC) and Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the NDC Partnership organized a climate finance management workshop from 28-29 May in Majuro, with participation of all key ministries and several development partners. The purpose of the workshop was to explore the setup of a national climate finance mechanism that supports the Government in managing and leveraging climate change-related funds, strategic projects for mitigation, adaptation and resilience, and strengthened internal systems, leading to accelerated climate action to benefit the RMI.
During the meeting, there were discussions on the need to create an enabling environment to engage private sector in mitigation efforts and focus government investment on adaptation. The new internal coordination structure for climate and resilience activities was also presented, with three key working groups – Adaptation (OEPPC), Mitigation (National Energy Office), and Cross-sector applications (NDC Partnership) – closely collaborating and feeding into the overall Tile Til Eo Committee, reporting to the Office of the Chief Secretary (OCS) and Cabinet.
The NDC Partnership – a global coalition of over 130 countries and institutions that work together to accelerate climate and development action – shared global best practices and presented several examples of climate finance mechanisms and national climate funds in other countries. A panel with ADB, World Bank, the Secretary of Finance, OCS Ebeye, and the Minister-in-Assistance shared their ideas of what a climate finance mechanism in RMI could look like and what should be the next steps moving forward. There was a presentation focused on potential regional opportunities to create economies of scale for climate financing, in particular efforts in the maritime transport sector.
The meeting was also an opportunity to discuss and follow up with NDC partners that participated on their financial and technical support, especially funding gaps that were identified in the RMI Partnership Plan. Some of the development partners that attended the one and half day consultations included the United States of America (USA), Japan, European Union (EU), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Micronesian Centre for Sustainable Transport, to name a few.
The meeting resulted in agreement on a “Climate Finance Action Plan” with concrete short-, medium-, and long-term actions to be undertaken to strengthen climate financing in the RMI as well as an updated version of the RMI NDC Partnership Plan after consultations with development partners. Through the NDC Partnership, the RMI received twenty responses from international partners that are interested in supporting the implementation of its NDC. Over the next months, the Government will coordinate the follow-up with these partners and continue to communicate critical funding gaps as outlined in the Partnership Plan to the development partners for further resource mobilization and accelerated achievement of RMI’s NDC targets and sustainable development. The new RMI Structure for Integration and Coordination of Climate and Resilience Activity will be the overarching coordination and accountability framework for the implementation of all climate change related activities in RMI.
Please contact OEPPC Director Clarence Samuel clarencesam@gmail.com or RMI NDC Partnership In-Country Facilitator Jane Ishiguro Jane.Ishiguro@ndcpartnership.org for more information.