Norwegian Climate Finance 2012

Norwegian Climate Finance 2012
Highlights
 Norway’s bilateral climate finance was 954 million USD in 2012, while the level in
the two preceding years was USD 682 and USD 705 million, respectively.. In 2006
the share of bilateral climate finance in the overall Official Development Assistance
(ODA) budget was around 3 %, which by 2012 had increased to 18 %. During the
same period, the total ODA budget also increased from an already high level.
 Norway pledged USD 1 billion for REDD+ for the fast start period. This commitment
has been fulfilled.
 The main priorities for Norwegian Climate Finance in recent years have been on
reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and promotion of
renewable energy and energy conservation/efficiency. Adaptation to climate change is
another priority, with particular focus on food security and disaster risk reduction.
 The Norwegian Government has long emphasised the strong links between
environment and development. The current policy is available in the White Paper
“Towards Greener Development” (2010-2011). The budget for climate change
mitigation and adaptation assistance has increased strongly over the past 5-6 years.
 In 2012, Norwegian multilateral core support to organisations that have been classified
as climate relevant was USD 371 million. For the fast start period as a whole, this
figure is almost USD 1.1 billion.
 The largest share of bilateral climate finance, due to our main focus on REDD+ and
renewable energy, is going to mitigation activities - USD 779 million in 2012. At the
same time, efforts are being made to scale up financial assistance for adaptation,
which has increased from USD 67 million in 2010 to USD 85 million in 2012. Support
for activities classified as both mitigation and adaptation increased from USD 29
million to 91 million over the same period.
 Energy production and consumption is one of the largest sources of emissions of
climate gases. Norwegian assistance to clean energy use public financial sources to
mobilize and incentivize commercial investments that lead to increased energy access,
energy efficiency and climate change mitigation in developing partner countries. Last
year the total amount channelled bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to
support such activities reached approximately USD 300 million.
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This report, while focusing on 2012, also gives aggregate figures for the whole Fast
Start period. As will be seen, there has been a significant increase in such assistance
over the period.
1. General
In Decision 1/CP.16 relevant parties were invited to submit information on the resources
provided for the fast start period (2010-2012). Reference is made to our reports covering 2010
and 2011. Norway is pleased to submit the information below on actual disbursements in
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2012. All numbers are ODA contributions; non-ODA contributions to various climate change
activities are not included. All Norwegian assistance mentioned in this report is on a grant
basis (no loans).
The main goal of Norway’s ODA is poverty reduction, equitable distribution of social and
economic goods and sustainable development. The strong interdependence between
environment and development has been emphasised by the Government, and the budget for
climate change adaptation and mitigation has increased strongly over recent years.
It should also be noted that efforts are being made, where relevant, to integrate climate change