GENEVA

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Wednesday launched the Global Climate Resilience Platform for communities most vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

Amid the ongoing COP27 global UN climate conference, the Geneva-based IFRC underlined in a press release the urgency of accelerated investment in communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.

The new platform aims to support 500 million people by raising at least 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.01 billion) through a five-year global initiative.

The project will focus on early-warning and anticipatory action, nature-based solutions, safety nets, and shock-responsive social protection.

"We've launched the Global Climate Resilience Platform to create transformational change through an immense scale-up of investment at the local community level, heeding the call for faster and broader efforts to address the climate crisis," said IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain.

"Real, sustainable change can only happen when the people impacted are driving decisions."

Chapagain said funding local climate action without having to go through multiple layers is crucial for true success in building resilience from the ground up.

Supporting active leadership

The IFRC network will support meaningful participation and active leadership of women, local communities, Indigenous peoples, youth, and other marginalized and underrepresented groups through the platform.

It will assist in developing and implementing locally-led climate action in 100 countries most vulnerable to climate change.

"The critical challenge of this decade is how to support and finance climate resilience initiatives globally," said the president of the federation, Francesco Rocca.

"The key is shifting power and resources to local actors."

IFRC's new report, titled Making it count: Smart climate financing for the most vulnerable people, has found that many highly vulnerable countries are not receiving the climate adaptation support they need and are being left behind.

On average, they received less than a quarter of the funding per person that went to low- or very-low-vulnerability countries.

Further, the IFRC said that only an estimated 10% of funding is granted at the local level as donors instead favor large-scale national infrastructure projects that risk missing the mark for local communities.

The IFRC platform focuses on key areas identified to have the most potential for impacting transformation at scale through increased investment.