As Governments prepare to spend up to US$ 10 billion annually to limit climate change and prepare for its impact, Transparency International (TI) warns of the corruption risks of climate finance flowing through new and untested channels.
To overcome this challenge, TI sets out practical guidelines to prevent corruption undermining climate change measures, through the Global Corruption Report (GCR) 2011 and calls on governments, international organizations, businesses and civil society to ensure good governance in climate policy.
The Report which was launched recently in Dhaka, Bangladesh recommends greater public participation, access to information and accountability to make climate governance more effective. This would limit the potential for conflicts of interest in decision-making and the negative effects that lobbying and special interests can play in setting climate policy.
The Report warns of the risk of “a green resource curse”. New technologies needed to replace fossil fuels, such as solar panels, require different natural resources. It is important that the mining industry that exploits these resources is transparent and publicly discloses payments to governments so that citizens can ensure the proceeds are used for their benefits, it says.
“Similarly, governments that sell land for bio-fuel cultivation, estimated to be 10 per cent of transport fuels in many of the world’s leading economies by 2030, must allow for public participation and oversight so that local communities’ land rights are respected”, the Report suggests. US$28 billion of climate financing is expected to flow annually to countries with large tropical forests to discourage deforestation and preserve this form of natural carbon storage. Illegal logging, worth more than US$10 billion a year, is already fuelled by corruption of customs and land management authorities. The report highlights that some governments have already claimed credits for fictitious forest plantation projects.
Case studies from Austria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Columbia, Kenya, Philippines, Spain, and the United States illustrate the global dimension of the climate change challenges facing the planet.