October 28, 2022 Despite years of alarmist discourse that climate change will lead to hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people moving to the Global North, governments in high-income countries and other climate donors have not prioritized climate migration-related projects in their increasingly ambitious financial commitments on climate change. The upcoming COP27, the United Nations’ annual climate conference being held November 6-18, could serve as a moment to bridge the gap between climate financing and climate migration programming, a new commentary from the Migration Policy Institute’s International Program argues. Climate donors have been reluctant to fund climate migration projects for a few reasons, MPI Associate Policy Analyst Lawrence Huang writes. One of them is concern about becoming embroiled in the highly politicized migration debate. “Governments and development agencies looking to finance a transition towards greener economies work hard to avoid politics,” he writes. “The politics of climate change are tricky enough.” The commentary also examines a second roadblock: Uncertainty over which approaches are successful. “Given lack of knowledge on what programs are effective and concern about being pulled into torturous politics on immigration, climate donors have not prioritized addressing migration and displacement,” Huang writes. He sketches a path for migration actors and climate donors to break down their silos, including by giving donors more evidence on the state of play of climate migration programming and better-coordinated modeling of areas at risk of climate displacement. The commentary precedes a forthcoming issue brief that examines the unique role that multilateral development banks, which committed US $66 billion in climate finance in 2020, can play in financing projects on climate-related migration and displacement. For MPI’s work on climate change, visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/topics/climate-change. And tune in to MPI’s Changing Climate, Changing Migration podcast wherever you get your podcasts or here: www.migrationpolicy.org/podcasts. Best regards,  Michelle Mittelstadt
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Migration Policy Institute | 
