How to Finance Climate Change Action in a Country That is at the Doorstep of the European Union

From 2016 to 2018, PlanAdapt worked with Albania’s Ministry of Tourism and Environment, the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Climate Change, in collaboration with GIZ, to support the National Adaptation Plan process in Albania.  The initial support comprised the development of a financing strategy for the National Adaptation Plan. The strategy provides guidance as to how the proposed climate change adaptation activities can be financed in the years to come.  It further encompasses strategies regarding the identification process of entry points to international climate finance as well as an up-to-date overview of relevant opportunities in relation to potential national and international public and private sources of adaptation finance. Furthermore, it proposes methods to identify and prioritise projects and programmes according to their readiness for adaptation finance. PlanAdapt also initiated the development of a roadmap that guides the mainstreaming of adaptation planning into regular budgeting processes in various relevant ministries.

In 2017, PlanAdapt worked with the Regional Development Fund (RDF) to  develop adaptation-related criteria and indicators for the RDF’s project screening, selection and monitoring process for infrastructure projects. This support was provided under the NAP Global Network’s Country Support Hub, coordinated by the Network Secretariat based at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). The ‘Guidelines to Integrate Climate Resilience in RDF Procedures’ were developed as a result of this project. They will help to align Albania’s infrastructure planning with the EU regulations in this area in the future. Furthermore, it will support the RDF secretariat to screen infrastructure projects as to whether they have well considered climate risks in their design.