Climate Research for All
A Major Disparity in Capacity for Climate Action and Decision Making
While often vulnerable to climate change, due to highly constrained resources, developing countries have a limited ability to project and analyze climate impacts for their regions. This constrains their ability to adapt to climate change, reduce disaster risk, leverage climate finance mechanisms and equitably, meaningfully participate in international decision-making processes.
A New Facility to Fill a Critical Gap
The Climate Research for All (CRA) Fund is a proposed multilateral fund and grant facility for physical sciences research on climate impacts that is designed to improve the information available to developing countries to adapt and respond to climate change, to improve the value and effectiveness of their climate programs and investments, and to reduce major disparities in information for climate decision-making.
To accomplish this, the CRA Fund proposes providing developing countries with funding for expert personnel, grants for climate research, and computing capacity and technical assistance for physical sciences research on climate impacts. While still under evaluation, a proposed structure for the CRA Fund is a within multilateral framework supported by contributions from developed countries funded at a level of $1-2 billion over 10 years.
Just 1.1% of climate change research publications from 2000 to 2014 come from low income economies.
— (Source: Malgorzata Blicharska et al., Nature Climate Change)
Technology Access that Plays a Critical Role
Together with funding, Climate Research for All includes the extension of efforts commenced by SilverLining to overcome a major disparity in research - the ability to access and use climate models and large datasets that require supercomputing - by making them available on the cloud and building local expert technical capacity.
Philanthropic Support to Catalyze a Sustained International Facility
For the CRA Fund to become a reality, there are steps forward that require early support from philanthropic and technology partners, including the formation of a secretariat, development work within the WCRP, and pilot research and computing studies and regional hub development efforts at partner institutions in Africa and Bangladesh.
Media
-
![]()
Addressing Gaps in Climate Intervention Research in the Global South
Video [1 min], May. 2023
-
![]()
Expanding Climate Science Research Capabilities in the Global South
Video [20 mins], Nov. 2022
-
![]()
AWS: Accelerating Climate Research
Podcast [27 mins], Nov. 2021
-
![]()
University of Capetown Impacts Modeling for SRM
Video [4 mins], Jun. 2020
-
![]()
The Transformational Possibility of Climate Models on the Cloud
Video [69 mins], Nov. 2021
-
![]()
The Current State of Resources for Climate Researchers in Ghana and the Global South
Video [6 mins], Sept. 2023
“Only 3.8% of global climate change research funding was spent on Africa.”
Chris Lennard
Senior Researcher, University of Cape Town
“There is a general deficit in research funding and technology access in the global south, particularly in the most vulnerable parts of the world.”
Kelly Wanser
Executive Director, SilverLining
“Warming temperatures make adaptation more difficult, with increasing intensity and frequency of extreme events.”
Jim W. Hurrel
Professor and Scott Presidential Chair in Environmental Science and Engineering, Colorado State University
“How can we work together to ensure that young people, in the south, can have equal access to knowledge and information on [climate intervention].”
