The Climate-Refugees Nexus (CRN) Initiative was launched by His Majesty King Abdullah II in COP27 in Sharm El Shaikh last year to highlight the specific vulnerability of countries facing the dual challenges of climate change and hosting of significant refugee populations, (please find attached a copy of the Initiative and its concept note). The Initiative has been supported by many countries.

This Initiative, launched by Jordan as a global initiative, sheds light on refugees-hosting countries that disproportionately suffer from climate change impacts. This compounded impact results in an increased pressure on natural resources, environment, and infrastructure, and negatively affects these countries’ resilience and climate change adaptive capacities. The Initiative draws attention of the international community to these impacts, and calls for international organizations, investors, and climate funds to prioritize refugee-hosting countries in climate hotspots in terms of creating and/or increasing financial, technical, and capacity buildings resources.

Thus, the Initiative aims at enhancing opportunities for refugee-hosting countries to receive climate finance. This would enable them to play a more active role in global efforts towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Targeted support in the most affected host countries will have significant benefits for the ability of societies to adapt and raise their resilience to climate change, including both refugees and host communities, particularly in the areas of resource security (water, energy, and food) and labor markets (green jobs). This in turn will improve security, stability and economic development globally.

The Initiative presents one important solution to the Declaration with many points of intersection, especially in terms of content and objectives.

•  The Climate-Refugees Nexus (CRN) Initiative is well aligned with the COP28 declaration (see attached CRNI Documents). BOTH make the points that:

   i) Fragile states/those supporting refugees receive the least climate finance per head – despite their obvious need

   ii) The most vulnerable have least access to formal systems of assistance that most climate finance flows through – so rely on humanitarian

   iii) Humanitarian agencies do not currently have the right mandates/models to access and deliver climate finance to increase resilience

•  The CRNI helpfully focuses on:

   i) increasing host countries’ opportunities to access climate finance

   ii) Current climate finance instruments are not designed to deliver to refugees host countries