Principles

The overarching principles of our conceptual framework are threefold:

1. global south-focused: most of the current literature and information available are global north-focused and comes from a standpoint of western, developed economies and their interests in global efforts to combat climate change. We will approach it from the perspective of the global south and communities;
2. equity and ‘just transition’: the narratives and advocacy must be based on ‘equity’, the building blocks of international environmental law and global sustainability initiatives, notably ‘intergenerational equity' and ‘intragenerational equity’ which encompasses equity among nations and recognition of local and global historical and contemporary geopolitical and economic inequities;
3. comprehensive: our work will situate climate finance and responses to the global climate crisis within a broader framework of the global economy and its existing asymmetries, acknowledging and addressing the broader structural social, economic and geopolitical factors that are fuelling the climate crisis and local and global responses to it. This includes a consideration of the colonial and postcolonial legacies of the global economy

Approach

The project will approach the climate finance supply chain from two perspectives. Underpinning both these approaches will be the question of ‘governance’ and a critique of the legal and policy architecture and the operational means of implementing the policy goals and legal commitments.

1. policy: what is the global policy and legal architecture that govern climate finance?
2. operational: what are the mechanisms that have been established to deliver climate finance and what are their terms of operations?

Focus

1. Provide an overview and definition of climate finance and its supply chain and distinguish between different types of climate finance
2. Situate climate finance within the two key policy and legal regimes that govern it:
   1. global climate regime
   2. global financial architecture
3. Analyse the key policy drivers, legal regimes and operational mechanisms with a key towards public education, knowledge transfer and advocacy.