Locally implemented or locally led? Tracking finance for community climate action

Local communities are directly affected by the impacts of climate change and are essential to developing and implementing effective responses. As a result, it has never been more important to understand, track and measure flows of climate finance to the local level. However, information on these flows is not currently provided in ways that allow accurate measurement and tracking. 

We estimate flows of climate finance targeting the local level and those that are specifically locally led over the past eight years. While there has been a jump in reported funding for locally-led climate action since 2021, transparency and reporting practices are shockingly incomplete, such that even in the highest year, less than half a per cent of all reported climate finance can be deemed to be locally led. 

Improved reporting and transparency are vital to verify how much climate finance is reaching the communities that need it most.