The Arab Regional Forum on Climate Initiatives to Finance Climate Action and the SDGs forum is one of five regional forums being organised by the Egyptian Presidency of COP27, the UN Climate Change High-level Champions, and the five United Nations Regional Commissions, as a coherent set of regional preparatory events on climate finance leading up to COP27.
The Arab Regional Forum will be hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and will explore the climate finance needs of Arab States to ensure water, energy and food security under changing climate conditions. It will include a review of the articulated climate finance needs of Arab States, including current financing flows and gaps. Bankable projects that can accelerate climate action will be showcased by member States as well as innovative forms of finance and regional initiatives that can create opportunities for private sector investment, blended finance and bilateral support. In doing so, the forum will:
- Facilitate engagement with a broad set of partners and stakeholders to accelerate public and private investment mobilisation and blended finance opportunities around concrete projects and initiatives that correspond to the distinct needs of developing countries in addressing climate change in a holistic manner and narrowing the current climate finance gap.
- Identify synergies and entry-points for climate finance to support the acceleration of access to clean energy, energy efficiency technologies as well as means for ensuring water and food security, which remain key catalysts for the attainment of the SDGs as well as mitigation and adaptation goals in the Arab region. This may feature examples of financial institutions acting on climate change through investment commitments, as well as ways to benefit from projects that reduce GHG emissions.
- Connect institutional investors, private sector financiers and development partners with governments and broker dialogues around co-creating investment opportunities in support of regional priority actions. This will include sharing of bankable projects and initiatives that are aligned with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and ready for implementation, scale-up and replication at the country and regional levels.
High-level representatives of the public and private sectors and the international development community who are committed to delivering on climate finance in the Arab region will participate.
