Ms Jennifer Higgins:

On the Green Climate Fund and the good practices of Irish Aid, we think Irish Aid is a beacon of hope for Ireland. It is not spoken about enough. I attended the sustainable development goals high-level political forum in July. There were plenary sessions specifically on goal 13 but Ireland did not contribute to them. That is a shame because all of the developing states turned up to the forum talking about the need for adaptation and greater availability of grants. Ireland could have outlined the measures we are taking and encouraged the rest of the European Union to take similar measures. Ireland is providing nearly 100% in grants for adaptation but at EU level it is only approximately 30%.

There is a perspective that private finance will fill the gap. However, private finance will always prioritise a return on its investment and mitigation - investing in solar farms, etc. - will always be where it sees that return. Unfortunately, a solar field farm will not be any use when a typhoon hits. That will increasingly push developing countries to take out more loans and they will be unable to reduce their emissions and adapt to increasing climate change. Loss and damage is being sought because those countries are saying they cannot cope with severe weather events with current funding and the way it is structured. The Green Climate Fund is a particularly good fit for Ireland because it is focused on adaptation. We would like to see far more of an increase in that regard. With any increase in multilateral funding, there must be an acknowledgement of funding for NGOs such as ours which are working directly with partners on the ground because it is quite difficult to monitor multilateral agencies. It is very easy to increase funding and give it straight to a UN body. We would seek some level of parity in that regard.