Climate Finance and Transparency in the Paris Agreement: Key Current and Emerging Legal Issues

The success of the Paris Agreement depends in large measure on the legal and operational details of the enhanced transparency framework under article 13, including the transparency framework for climate financial support. The transparency framework for financial support will guide how parties are to report the progress toward meeting their commitments to provide financial support for climate action in developing countries and, where support is received, on its use. Developed countries pledge to provide financial support to developing countries was a cornerstone of the compromise that enabled the virtually consensual global adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. This financial pledge will remain crucial throughout the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Transparency on how this financial support is actually going to be delivered is essential to maintain trust and to promote broad compliance with the climate mitigation and climate adaptation commitments under the Paris Agreement. Yet, almost three years after the Paris Agreement adoption, many aspects of the transparency framework for financial support remain unclear. This paper unpacks key current and emerging legal aspects of climate finance and the transparency framework for financial support in the Paris Agreement, ahead of the twenty-fourth Conference of the Parties (COP24) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), to take place in December 2018 in Katowice, Poland. The paper argues that the transparency framework for support should be designed as an accountability tool for developed countries obligation to provide financial support to climate action in developing countries. Furthermore, the paper argues that a transparency framework for financial support can only serve to build a comprehensive and effective accountability system if it also covers the financial contributions from emerging economies and high-income developing countries to lower-income developing countries.