The new standard ISO 14093 Mechanism for financing local adaptation to climate change —Performance based climate resilience grants — Requirements and guidelines, establishes an approach and methodology for a country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to subnational authorities to support climate change adaptation. This approach supports local resilience thereby contributing to the achievement of the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The country-based mechanism uses performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs) which ensure programming and verification of climate change expenditures at the local level, offering strong incentives for performance improvements in enhanced resilience.
ISO 14093 was developed using the methodology and experiences of the United Nations Capital Development Fund’s (UNCDF) Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) facility. This mechanism has been introduced and tested in 17 countries since 2011. As of 2021, LoCAL has mobilized over USD 125 million, mostly in the form of grants to more than 300+ subnational authorities, reaching over 15 million people, in the most climate vulnerable countries.