ECLAC Assesses Performance of Brazil’s National Climate Change Fund

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has published a report assessing the performance and contributions of Brazil’s National Climate Change Fund (known by the Portuguese acronym FNMC) as an instrument of the National Climate Change Policy (PNMC) and analysing its positive aspects, limitations and lessons learned.

The Avaliação do Fundo Clima document (available only in Portuguese) highlights the fact that Brazil is one of only a few countries in the world to have its own instrument for funding climate change policies.

“The country recognizes the need for resources to address the climate change issue at the national level,” says the report, which was prepared in conjunction with Brazil’s Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) and the German cooperation mechanism (GIZ) under an agreement between ECLAC and the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment.

Brazil’s National Climate Change Policy was instituted in 2009 by means of Law 12,187. Among the specific instruments for meeting the challenges of climate change, in addition to the 2008 National Climate Change Plan, there are nine sectoral plans and two plans of action to combat deforestation. The FNMC, alternatively known as the Climate Fund, was created by Law 12,114, also in 2009, as an accounting fund attached to the Ministry of the Environment.

The report, which assesses the Fund’s work over the 2011-2014 period, explains that the FNMC was designed as a mechanism for strengthening actions to develop a low-carbon economy and reduce the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and the most vulnerable segments of the population rather than as a direct agent for mitigation and adaptation.

To achieve this, it makes use of two basic tools: reimbursable funds (intended to finance mitigation and adaptation actions by means of loans) and grants.

Among its main conclusions, the report states that “the Climate Fund fulfils its role as the PNMC’s funding instrument. However, its effective contribution to climate change and adaptation cannot be quantified, since there are no monitoring tools for measuring the impact of the projects it finances or manages.”

According to the report’s assessment, the Fund should continue to support the structuring and implementation of the PNMC and its instruments. The most urgent challenge, it says, is to diversify its sources of funding. It also recommends continuing to conduct regular external evaluations so that its progress can be monitored and lessons and improvements can be generated.

The methodology used for the report was based on the environmental performance reviews that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regularly conducts in its member countries.

For queries, contact the ECLAC Public Information Unit.

E-mail: prensa@cepal.org; Telephone: (56) 22210 2040.

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