Scaling vs. Transforming Climate Finance

This article examines how climate finance can address three longstanding gaps: the lack of integration of science into action, the inequities associated with the adoption of novel technologies, and the lack of voice for individuals with lived experience. Using a comparative qualitative case study of the European Union’s (EU) Green Bond Framework and the South African Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), this article examines how finance is carried out differently, depending on the circumstances of the developed/developing worlds. The EU example illustrates a high level of scientific integration, in the form of taxonomies, as a mechanism for scaling technology, but exposes the drawback of technocratic isolation. On the other hand, JETP in South Africa demonstrates that finance can be a transformative process that incorporates justice and community involvement, including indigenous knowledge, despite obstacles such as weak governance and structural injustices. Informed by the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the theory of planned behavior, and climate justice principles, this article finds that climate finance needs to focus on both scientific precision and social fairness, as well as on the inclusive scaling of technology and the integration of distributive, procedural, and recognitional justice to act as a transformative vehicle between knowledge and action.