Fairness

Distribution of adaptation finance in the Global South: normative analysis of procedures and criteria

Work Package 2 addresses the normative question of how finance to support adaptation to climate change should be distributed from an ethical perspective. On the one hand, relevant criteria that currently guide or may guide the distribution are analysed. Examples of these criteria are “vulnerability” and “democracy”, which will be explored in more detail in Work Packages 3 and 4. A normative investigation of such criteria sheds light on the extent to which a criterion or set of criteria might promote a fair distribution of scarce adaptation finance in terms of distributive justice. On the other hand, the procedures and institutions within which funding is administered and distributed, like the Green Climate Fund, are examined. Here, the focus is on procedural justice: How to design the distribution of adaptation finance in a way that it can be considered fair against the background of various ideals such as recognition, participation, transparency or representation? Based on the above considerations, Work Package 2 also discusses which criteria could be used in the distribution procedures and how it could be used. Since the criteria will ultimately provide decision-makers with only a limited amount of guidance, it is all the more important that the procedures are as fair as possible. Presumably, only a fair procedure can lead to a fair result in the context of financing adaptation. In this regard, Work Package 2 builds in large part on insights gained in Work Package 1, which examines the current distribution of adaptation finance.