Towards a system approach to climate finance governance and coordination at the country level

Abstract

A diverse range of public and private actors is involved in mobilising, channelling, and deploying climate finance, both at international and national levels. This thesis examines climate finance governance and coordination from the perspective of a developing country which is a novel approach within the young but growing literature on climate finance. The research is divided into two parts: the development of an analytical framework and its application to a country case study. The analytical framework provides a tool to analyse governance and coordination of climate finance along three components: actors, institutional context, and linkages. For the case study, these three components are used to explore climate finance realities in Nepal based on insights from document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Overall, the thesis finds that (i) the fragmentation of climate finance actors at the international level is also evident at the country level; (ii) international actors can shape a developing country’s climate agenda through multiple channels that go beyond pure finance; (iii) similarly, a developing country’s national institutional context and the observed linkages can be strongly impacted by key issues and requirements of international climate negotiations; and (iv) a developing country can face multiple technical and political challenges that hinder effective climate finance coordination, even if the formal structures are in place. The research findings highlight the importance of applying a holistic approach to climate finance governance and coordination that combines the two main levels where climate finance is planned and mobilized, which have thus far largely been examined separately. This approach is crucial at a time when developing countries’ governments are faced with an increasing urgency to consolidate their climate agenda for the coming decades, and the international community is in the process of confirming a new climate finance goal that is to replace the $100 billion per year target.

Date of Award	27 Mar 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Ignazio Cabras (Supervisor), Richard Nyuur (Supervisor), Ekaterina Shakina (Supervisor) & Elena Benedetti (Supervisor)