Topic Guide: Corruption and Climate Finance

As with all large-scale infrastructure projects, risks of corruption in climate finance procurement are likely to be significant. Procurement processes typically involve many sub-contractors, and are highly complex and technical, making procurement processes easy to manipulate through bribery, collusion between industry stakeholders, kickbacks in the management of contracts, and so on. A Transparency International study (forthcoming) assesses both procurement policies in place at the Green Climate Fund as well as experiences with contracting at the national level with internationally funded renewable energy projects in Kenya and Mexico. At the level of the fund’s secretariat, the study’s initial findings show that there is still some way to go to put in place a strong policy basis from which to ensure corruption resistant procurement. The initial results from country level research showed a mixed picture of compliance with best practices in public contracting, in terms of the transparency of contracting processes and the engagement of the most affected stakeholders. The need for strong procurement standards is clear to ensure that climate finance is used for its intended purposes and that critical infrastructure is delivered to a high standard.