In 2021, President Biden pledged to increase U.S. international climate financing to more than $11.4 billion annually by 2024. Of this, $3 billion per year was earmarked for investments in historically underfunded adaptation as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience.
This critical funding would accelerate much-needed emissions reductions in other countries, help the most vulnerable communities that contribute the least to the climate crisis adapt to growing impacts, and help Americans and It will protect people around the world from climate change. the physical, economic, and security threats posed by climate change; It also reinvigorates U.S. climate leadership, rebuilds trust with developing countries, and helps it catch up with other G7 countries, which provide far more climate finance relative to their own wealth. It will be.
In mid-March, Congress finally passed a related spending bill for fiscal year 2024. That bill included just $1 billion in funding dedicated to international climate change programs. This is the third year in a row that Congress has failed to fully implement the United States’ international climate finance commitments. Just $1 billion of the total $1.59 trillion spending package sends a harmful message to the rest of the world.
Inappropriate international climate spending weakens the United States, undermines its economic competitiveness in clean energy markets, alienates potential allies and strategic partners, and has diplomatic implications for one of the key issues shaping the international landscape this century. Transfer power. Climate finance is at the heart of the “grand deal” underpinning the Paris Agreement. The idea is that all countries need to do more to tackle the climate crisis, but richer countries must support poorer countries to do so. If the United States fails to honor its end of the deal, it will find it difficult to rally other countries to fulfill their commitments.
Although it did not receive approval from Congress, the Biden administration could make good on its climate funding pledge. Outlined below is the administration’s narrow path to achieving its $11.4 billion goal in fiscal year 2024. But first, let’s find out what Congress did and did not include in the fiscal year 2024 spending package.
What has Congress devoted to international affairs?
In its FY24 budget request, the Biden administration announced a series of bilateral and multilateral measures to rapidly reduce emissions and support vulnerable countries and communities to address the disproportionate impacts of climate change. urged Congress to allocate more than $5 billion in international climate investments to climate programs.
But each year, Congress fails to respond to most of the administration’s requests for international climate funding. To make matters worse, in FY24 Congress cut spending even lower than the disappointing levels of FY22 and FY23. This is largely due to the strict spending caps mandated by last year’s debt limitation bill.
Below is a breakdown of the major international climate changes (Figure 1):
Bilateral climate programs focused on adaptation, clean energy, and sustainable landscapes: $679 million was allocated in FY24, $36 million less than in FY23. It specifies the minimum amount the U.S. government must spend on climate change programs through agencies such as the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Adaptation Bilateral Program ($256 million in FY24) helps developing countries reduce the impacts of severe weather and climate change disasters on critical infrastructure, agricultural productivity, and public health. The Clean Energy Program ($247 million in FY24) supports innovation and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency around the world. The Sustainable Landscapes Program ($176 million in 2024) will help protect important carbon-storing landscapes, including forests and wetlands, including by reducing deforestation.
Green Climate Fund (GCF): $0 was allocated in FY24 as in FY23. The Green Climate Fund is the world’s largest multilateral fund focused on climate change. It fosters innovative investments that reduce emissions and help poor countries adapt to climate impacts. The GCF has approved approximately $14 billion in funding for more than 250 projects. These investments are projected to reduce 2.9 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 745 coal-fired power plants, and improve the resilience of 1 billion people. For every dollar the United States invests in the GCF, it leverages $2.8 from other donors and the private sector. In 2014, the Obama administration committed $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund. The Obama administration provided $1 billion in 2016 and 2017, and the Biden administration will provide another $1 billion in 2023, leaving $1 billion remaining from the 10-year commitment. Last year, the Biden administration renewed the U.S. commitment to the GCF, pledging an additional $3 billion for a second replenishment of the fund.
Clean Technology Fund (CTF): $125 million allocated in FY24, same level as FY23. This contribution will support concessional financing to the CTF for efforts to accelerate the retirement of coal-fired power plants and the introduction of clean energy in major emitters.
Global Environment Facility (GEF): $150.2 million was allocated in FY24, the same level as FY23. GEF is the oldest multilateral environmental fund and supports several global environmental treaties, including biodiversity, desertification, mercury and climate. The fund has enjoyed strong bipartisan support over the years for addressing a variety of environmental issues. In 2022, the fund underwent its eighth replenishment, attracting $5.3 billion in pledges from 29 governments, including emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. This funding will help meet the US commitment of $600 million over four years.
Montreal Protocol Multilateral Fund (MLF): $49.3 million was allocated in FY24, a decrease of $2.6 million from FY23. This fund will help developing countries reduce their use of superclimate pollutants to replace ozone-depleting substances.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): $14 million was allocated in FY24, $1 million less than in FY23. The IPCC and UNFCCC are the United Nations’ climate science agency and negotiating body, respectively.
In early March, the Biden administration sent its fiscal year 2025 budget request to Congress. In response to the highly restrictive caps Congress has placed on overall government spending going forward, the administration is requesting just $3.8 billion in international climate action, much of it through bilateral channels. .
