The international community is focusing increasing attention on the need for more information and transparency on climate finance. Much of this interest has emerged in the context of developed country pledges to mobilise USD 100 billion in climate finance, per year, by 2020 under the UNFCCC.

Increased monitoring of climate finance is essential to ascertain whether countries are on track to meet such commitments. Furthermore, there is agreement that climate finance should be mobilised in a context of mutual accountability. To this end, there has been agreement that developed countries’ efforts on mitigation and finance should be comparable, transparent and accurate.

This brief reflects on the practical experience of monitoring climate finance from the Climate Funds Update (CFU), a joint initiative of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF), established to increase the transparency of climate finance flows .
Drawing on the CFU experience, this brief highlights and makes the case for a focus on public finance, before considering the adequacy of information available. It concludes by suggesting key priority areas for efforts to harmonise climate finance reporting.