Project

Accountability regimes and climate change financing in developing countries (PhD project - Rishi Basak)

My research looks into how international organizations that provide funding for climate change projects are held accountable for delivering on their commitments. This research topic is significant because climate finance is crucial for reducing greenhouse gases and helping the world’s poorest adapt to climate change. I looked at how relationships between the various people involved in financing, implementing and overseeing climate change projects are affected by the rules, expectations and information used to track project performance.

Background

Although billions of dollars are being spent by donorson financing climate change adaptation and mitigationin developing countries,little academic analysis has been undertaken on the accountability regimes thatareassociated with key global climate change financing institutions. This research seeks to gain a better understanding ofsuch accountability regimes.

Description

A casestudy was undertaken, focused on theGreen Climate Fund (GCF), the world’s largest climate finance fund. A document review (i.e., content analysis of officialinstitutionaldocuments that describe the accountability regime), as well askey informant interviews were conducted. A theoretical approach, using agency theory,was used to gain insights into theincentives at play and the role of information in theaccountabilityrelationship between the donor and recipient in climate change financing. A framework was developed to analyze therole that information can playin accountability relationships. The framework was tested via anothercase study, which focused on aclimate-smart agriculture project in India.

This thesis provides theoretical and empirical grounding to build a deeper understanding of the accountability regimes involved in international climate change financing, what leads to strengthened accountability in the complex accountability webs they form and how these webs impact the legitimacy of these organizations. With its conceptual and empirical novelty, this thesis contributes to the literature on climate finance and accountability more broadly.

Results

It was found that the accountability regimes and the information that feeds them are often unbalanced - with over-emphasis on certain actors in the accountability webs, as well as a misplaced focus on quantity over quality.

It was also found that who is involved (“nature of accountability”) and when information is used (“timeline of accountability”) is of crucial importance. Different actors have different informational needs at different points in a project’s lifecycle.

Informality was found in places where being more formal would likely be helpful. For instance, in the role of certain actors, as well as how and what information is shared across certain actors for accountability purposes.

Balance was found to be essential to the strengthening of accountability, with evermore accountability requirements risking perverse outcomes (e.g., reductions in efficiency and in the competition for the delivery of climate change projects).

Publications