Climate financing: institutional effectiveness of the national fund on climate change

Abstract There is broad scientific consensus about the climate emergency. Governments have intensified mitigation and adaptation actions by conducting climate finance through national climate funds. In 2009, the National Fund on Climate Change (FNMC) was established in Brazil. Analyzes on climate finance have intensified after 2020, and there are few empirical studies on these funds. This article contributes to this gap by analyzing the institutional effectiveness of the FNMC through desk research in the period from 2009 to 2020, considering 21 indicators distributed in five dimensions. This study identifies the main challenges to the FNMC’s institutional effectiveness, recognizing its importance in helping Brazil meet its commitment to international climate goals by reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), strengthening research, and increasing investments in climate change projects. The results reveal great fragility in the FNMC’s institutional effectiveness. None of the five dimensions analyzed had all indicators satisfied, and resource mobilization and sustainability were identified as the main challenges to the FNMC’s institutional effectiveness.