Climate change is a trending theme that has become ubiquitous around the world. It is a development challenge that has manifested itself in the form of frequent heatwaves, flooding, droughts, wildfires, sand storms, earthquakes and rising sea levels; all of which are causing untold hardship on the lives of people.  

Interestingly, in recent years, the international community has made significant strides by reaching a Paris Climate Agreement --- at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris in December 2015 – as well as ratifying the historic agreement in record time. 

The main challenge is how to finance national climate action plans (or the so-called Nationally Determined Contributions --NDCs) (especially in the Muslim World).in an age of austerity in order to achieve the target of reducing global temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial level. 

The presentation will focus on a brief historicity of climate change (where we stand), the climate change challenges in the age of austerity measures (what are the issues), climate change financing requirements in the Muslim World (what resources are needed), the role of Multilateral Development Banks (what development partners are doing), and the opportunities offered by Islamic finance as well as other sources of funding for climate change (what are the innovative and alternative financing approaches).