THE GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE FINANCE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

The document examines the governance of climate finance across three developing regions, arguing that funding is heavily skewed toward mitigation over adaptation and private over public sources. It highlights that this imbalance often ignores the urgent needs of the most vulnerable populations and the preference of developing nations for public finance to address historical climate debt. Additionally, it critiques the role of regional development banks, noting conflicts of interest where banks fund both fossil-fuel and renewable energy projects while prioritizing loans over grants.

• There is a significant global imbalance between mitigation and adaptation funding, with mitigation receiving ten times the resources of adaptation in terms of pledges.
• In Asia and Latin America, funding is disproportionately directed toward mitigation and richer countries. Asia has 113 mitigation projects compared to 40 for adaptation, while Latin America has committed US$ 222 million for mitigation versus US$ 57 million for adaptation.
• Africa receives the lowest level of climate funding because mitigation finance is prioritised in fast developing economies; consequently, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) financing is weak in the region.
• The predominance of private finance often leads to the marginalization of democratic governance principles, such as public participation and informed consent, and may conflict with the needs of developing countries that view public finance as a way to redress historical climate debt.
• Regional development banks are becoming key players in climate finance, but they face conflicts of interest by funding both fossil-fuel ('dirty') and renewable ('clean') energy, and are criticized for prioritizing loans over grants.

APA

Whande, W., & Reddy, T. (2011). THE GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE FINANCE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/No24Jun2011.pdf

Chicago

Whande, Webster, and Trusha Reddy. THE GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE FINANCE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS. Institute for Security Studies, 2011. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/No24Jun2011.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Whande |first1=Webster |last2=Reddy |first2=Trusha |title=THE GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE FINANCE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=June 2011 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/No24Jun2011.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{whande2011governance, author = {Whande, Webster and Reddy, Trusha}, title = {{THE GOVERNANCE OF CLIMATE FINANCE IN AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICA: SOME CRITICAL REFLECTIONS}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2011}, month = jun, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/No24Jun2011.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }