Climate Finance Coordination From the Global to the Local: Norm Localization and the Politics of Climate Finance Coordination in Zambia

The transfer of climate finance to developing countries is a key feature in global climate change agreements. This article examines how conflicting preferences between climate finance donors and domestic actors affect the diffusion of emerging international norms on climate finance coordination at national and subnational levels in Zambia. Informed by literature on norm localization we trace the diverging preferences and interactions among donors and domestic actors over a 12-year period as they shape climate finance coordination in Zambia with support from the global Climate Investment Funds. We find that this has been a highly conflictual and dynamic process with contestation centered on norm application rather than norm validity. While the World Bank have had a strong initial influence on the enactment of coordination norms, domestic actors have over time undermined and reconfigured coordination arrangements to align better with their own preferences. Our findings show (i) how emerging international norms on climate finance coordination may be localized and reshaped as they are enacted in developing countries; (ii) that preferences may differ significantly between and among donors and domestic actors in this regard, and (iii) that past relationships from development cooperation may be carried forward but also challenged in this process.