The future of climate finance: balancing ownership and accountability

International market-based cooperation was conceptualized under the Kyoto Protocol to deliver (carbon) finance for mitigation outcomes (e.g., emissions credits), which buyers can use for their own purposes. In contrast, climate finance providers do not 'claim' any generated mitigation outcomes for their own achievement of mitigation target and there is no transfer of mitigation outcomes. The same mitigation outcome cannot be accounted as both carbon and climate finance. However, baseline and credit mechanisms, so far mostly used for carbon finance, can be tools for mobilizing climate finance and enhancing its effectiveness in delivering real, additional, and verified mitigation outcomes. Here, two main ways exist. First, crediting mechanisms can be used for delivering public and private results-based climate finance as long as the credits are not used by the buyers for compliance with mandatory or voluntary emissions targets. Second, carbon and climate finance sources may be blended to boost finance for mitigation. Market-based cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement contributes to financing conditional NDC targets. If multiple sources of finance are blended and investors want to claim climate finance provided, attribution of mitigation to financing sources becomes key.