The IEU will present at the 15th European Evaluation Biennial Conference- Better Together: Collaborative thought and action for better evaluation taking place from 23-27 September in Rimini, Italy during the following session:

Climate and Development – Aligning Environmental, Economic, and Social Development Goals

Date & Time: Friday, 27 September 2024 1:50-3:20 pm

Format: In person

Description: 

This session will explore how climate finance contributes to the achievement of climate goals alongside environmental, economic, and social development goals. The Evaluation Units of four climate funds, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Evaluation and Learning Initiative of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and the Adaptation Fund Technical Evaluation Reference Group (AF-TERG), will join together to share why assessing and evaluating climate interventions is different to other types of evaluations, the evidence they have on the links between climate and development goals from their portfolio of projects, and guidance on how to better align climate finance with environmental, economic, and social development goals. The panel will also discuss how to overcome challenges in measuring development impacts, and ways to incorporate development goals in project plans based on their evaluation studies.

During the panel, the GEF IEO will speak about the commonly reported socio-economic benefits in their programs and examples of mechanisms for delivery of socio-economic benefits. The GCF IEU will then present lessons and recommendations from the GCF’s experience in aligning development and climate goals. CIF will follow by presenting findings from their independent mixed-methods evaluation on development impacts of CIF’s investments. Finally, AF-TERG will speak about the links between adaptation and development, drawing on examples from their ex-post evaluations.

To ensure that there is a strong link between the interventions, the panelists will be asked to answer the following question throughout their presentations: Is there a strong link between climate and development? They will be prepared to expand on the evidence that they have found in their programs that shows how climate programs have contributed to environmental, economic, and social developmental goals. The panelists are also very familiar with each other’s work as the evaluation units of the four climate funds meet regular to discuss synergies and collaboration. This familiarity will enable the panelists to respond to and draw links with the other presentations during the session.

The EES conference brings together evaluators, commissioners and users from all over the world to share their experience and discuss the theory, practice and utilization of evaluations in different contexts. For more information visit the ESS Conference website.