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

Over the past eight years, research on funding for locally led climate action has found that support truly driven by local communities is virtually nonexistent. Only 0.17% of all reported climate funding purports to be "locally led", and only 29% is explicitly aimed at the local level, with a slightly higher proportion for adaptation (33.6%) than for mitigation (24.6%).

Weak reporting systems mask huge gaps in accountability, make it nearly impossible to track whether money actually reaches actors at the local level. This analysis calls for action to match rhetoric, through more transparent reporting that distinguishes between locally led and locally implemented.