On the evening of 14 March 2017, the ecbi convened a seminar on resource mobilisation for the Adaptation Fund at La Redoute in Bad Godesberg, Germany. The seminar was co-hosted by Michael Kracht, incoming Chair of the Adaptation Fund Board, and Benito Müller, ecbi director. It was attended by members and alternates of the Adaptation Fund Board, as well as representatives of the Adaptation Fund Secretariat and Trustee.
After a welcome by the incoming Chair, Müller gave an introductory presentation on "Mobilising Resources for the Adaptation Fund", discussing three problems facing the resource mobilisation efforts of the Adaptation Fund:
(i) the drying up of the original core funding source, the share of proceeds from the Clean Development Mechanism;
(ii) the danger of voluntary donations being diverted to the Green Climate Fund to make up for the shortfall, expected after the reneging by the new US administration; and
(iii) administrative overheads involved in national contributions to small funds.
Müller proposed that the Adaptation Fund receive core funding from the Green Climate Fund, under programmatic access. In this context, he proposed that the Board, as soon as possible, request the Secretariat and the Trustee to prepare all the necessary documents necessary for a Board decision to speedily launch an accreditation process with the Green Climate Fund, if it desired, after the issue of whether the Adaptation Fund “may serve the Paris Agreement" is resolved at the next climate conference in November 2017.
The second presentation of the evening on "Potential linkages between the AF and the GCF" was given by David Eckstein, Climate Finance and Investments Policy Advisor, Germanwatch. This was followed by a presentation entitled "You've got the Power! Accrediting the AF to the GCF" by David Rossati, Lecturer at the Law Salford Business School, UK. Rossati explained the independent legal opinion he provided for a recent OCP/ecbi Discussion Note "Time to Decide! The Adaptation Fund after Marrakech", regarding whether the Adaptation Fund Board has the power to initiate accreditation with the GCF, and he discussed some issues arising from the recent update of the Adaptation Fund Secretariat paper on Potential Linkages Between the Fund and the Green Climate Fund.
In the final presentation of the evening, Müller introduced the “Oxford Crowdfunding for Adaptation Initiative” that the ecbi team has initiated, to tap into socially responsible corporate air travel. Müller estimated that if properly marketed, the scheme could provide the Adaptation Fund with US$ 125 million per annum.
