Belgium has provided a 3-million-euro grant to help the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) address the climate crisis. The funding will in part support UNEP’s efforts to help countries adapt to droughts, rising seas and the other ripple effects of climate change.
The grant comes with the world struggling to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Global temperatures risk increasing 2.8°C by the end of the century, a total that could trigger catastrophic changes to the Earth’s delicate climate systems.
The financing from Belgium is for UNEP’s Climate Stability Fund, which supports the organization’s work on the climate crisis.
The funding will further UNEP’s cutting-edge climate research, which informs policies worldwide. That research includes the Adaptation Gap Report series. The latest report from 2022, Too Little, Too Slow, concludes that many countries are ill-prepared for the heat waves, floods and other extreme weather that will accompany climate change. Belgium’s grant will also back UNEP’s work to help communities adapt to extreme weather.
As well, the funding will support UNEP’s efforts to measure the world’s progress towards carbon neutrality, including through the hallmark Emissions Gap Report, and assist countries in meeting their transparency and reporting obligations under the Paris Agreement.
Belgium’s support will help bolster access to climate finance and further efforts to give the world’s least developed countries access to a new global early warning system for climate-related disasters, such as cyclones and droughts.
Moreover, the Belgian funding contributes to the promotion of business models and markets for decarbonization, adaptation and resilience.
Finally, it will enable UNEP to inspire consumers to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. This work is done on many fronts, including through advocacy campaigns, policy guidance, such as the Enabling Sustainable Lifestyles in a Climate Emergency brief, and through global multi-partner initiatives, such as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
“The climate crisis is accelerating and we cannot solve this emergency without multilateralism, without partnerships and without funding,” said Inger Andersen, UNEP’s Executive Director. “We at UNEP are grateful to Belgium for its generous support and for its global leadership on the climate crisis, which is the defining challenge of our times.”
With the new grant, Belgium joins Norway and becomes the second country in the world to support the Climate Stability Fund, one of UNEP’s three thematic funds.
Belgium has been a strong supporter of UNEP since the organization’s establishment in 1972. The country has long recognized the importance of core and flexible funding to an organization such as UNEP, whose mandate includes environmental science, policy and governance – crucial areas that do not traditionally attract earmarked funding. Belgium is a regular top-10 contributor to the Environment Fund, UNEP’s core fund. In fact, Belgium, although only one of UNEP’s 193 Member States, has contributed 3 per cent of the Environment Fund’s financing since 1972.
Funding from Belgium has contributed to UNEP achieving important environmental milestones in recent decades. In addition to climate change, the UNEP-Belgium partnership has furthered important work on biodiversity, the nexus between poverty and the environment, and clean fuels and vehicles, which celebrated a milestone in 2021 with the global elimination of leaded fuel.
“Climate change is one of the biggest threats to our future prosperity and is already having an impact on our lives today,” said Caroline Gennez, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities Policy.
“If we want to eradicate poverty and better protect people against the consequences of global warming, we need to build a more sustainable future for everyone, everywhere,” Gennez added. “That is why Belgium has always been a loyal partner of UNEP. By mapping the global challenges of climate adaptation, giving people access to early warning systems and supporting innovative ideas, UNEP is making a crucial contribution towards a more sustainable future. With this new partnership we reaffirm our trust in UNEP to turn climate science into policies and policies into better outcomes for all.”
About UNEP’s Thematic Funds
UNEP’s three thematic funds – ‘Climate Stability’, ‘Living in Harmony with Nature’ and ‘Towards a Pollution-Free Planet’ were established in 2022 in support of the implementation of UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (2022-2025) ‘For People and Planet’. The funds aim to shift the balance from tightly earmarked contributions at the individual project level towards more flexible funding, thereby strengthening the organization’s capacity to help achieve transformational change for people and planet. These funds are complementary to UNEP’s Environment Fund which supports all of UNEP’s work.
