Scaling Domestic Resources for Adaptation and Resilience with the Sustainable Budgeting Approach

The University of Oxford, in partnership with the Republic of Rwanda, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and United Nations Environment Programme, is hosting an event on “Scaling Domestic Resources for Adaptation and Resilience with the Sustainable Budgeting Approach” at the Rwanda Pavilion in the Blue Zone, Expo City Dubai, on December 3, 2023, from 15:00-16:00.

The purpose of the event is to highlight and discuss opportunities to align domestic finance and budgeting with the simultaneous objectives of accelerating development and climate action. This session will address the opportunity to align domestic finance and budgeting with the simultaneous objectives of accelerating development and progressing on climate priorities. Objectives towards mitigation, adaptation,and resilience, will all be addressed. As the climate finance gap continues to grow, there is a need for much more external and internal finance to support climate objectives. This event emphasizes the direct potential of internal finance to catalyze action and associated scope to incentivize much greater quantities of external finance. the Discussion will be framed with an introduction to the Sustainable Budgeting Approach and a high-profile case study on the unintended impacts of COVID-19 spending on adaptation and resilience. Panelists will then respond to these materials, highlighting opportunities they see to integrate resilience to fiscal practices and to build a blueprint for future strategies. The event is a partnership between leading institutions including Oxford University, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, and the UN Environment Programme, ensuring a rich exchange of globally informed, regionally applicable insights. Policymakers will emerge with enhanced strategies for sustainable budgeting, crucial for climate preparedness and action in Africa and the world.

This event aims to deepen policy makers’ understanding of how to better align domestic public finance to climate change goals, while maintaining sovereign development priorities. The session will also present concrete fiscal policy tools and other financing options to facilitate domestic investment in mitigation, adaptation,and resilience. Implementing these tools can lead to more effective domestic resource allocation, as well as enhanced fiscal transparency. This, in turn, can potentially catalyse higher market trust, improved credit ratings and increased access to lower-cost international finance.