Editor’s choice
SEI initiatives explore key issues on sustainable development and serve as hubs for our research. The mission of the Initiative on Global Finance was to deliver knowledge and solutions to better understand the global financial system and its compatibility with the goals of sustainable development. The central objective of research within the initiative was to find out more about whether finance is supporting or undermining the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient development.
Duration: 2015–2019
Main outputs: a tool to visualize development finance flows; a tool that shows the connections between NDCs and SDGs
Region: global; Small Island Developing States
A central aim of the initiative was to analyze and visualize the flows of development finance. Aid Atlas — an online platform that provides interactive visualizations of development finance commitments and disbursements showing which countries are providing development finance to whom — was released in a beta version in late 2019. By mid-March 2020, Aid Atlas had attracted almost 1,000 visitors.
We used Aid Atlas to identify a number of patterns we believe are indicative of problems in the way climate finance is working in practice, and pointed out these patterns in a submission to the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance. One such problem is that climate finance has a much lower disbursement ratio than all development finance, suggesting problems in the delivery of funding. Another problem is that finance for adaptation is surprisingly concentrated in a small number of sectors, which could be hindering adaptation efforts more broadly. Thirdly, funders do not appear to be prioritizing the most vulnerable countries when programming financial support for adaptation.
Tool / Aid Atlas helps users to more easily understand how development funding is being provided, where it is going, and what it’s being used for.
What synergies are being utilized in working towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and those of the 2030 Agenda? That was another central question of the initiative. We developed the NDC-SDG Connections tool connecting the climate action plans that 164 countries submitted to the UNFCCC — known as Nationally-Determined Contributions or NDCs — and shows how climate activities connect to a broader agenda encompassing all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The NDC-SDG Connections tool was one of the finalists at the United Nations SDG Action Awards 2018. The Awards are powered by the United Nations SDG Action Campaign, and recognise the most outstanding and innovative efforts to inspire action on the SDGs. The tool also received attention at the UN Climate and SDGs Synergy Conference in Copenhagen in April 2019.
Tool / Analyze and compare how climate actions correspond to the Sustainable Development Goals.
SEI working paper / SEI research shows how countries' Nationally Determined Contributions connect with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
SEI brief / This policy brief introduces the NDC-SDG Connections online tool, which analyses the synergies between the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.
SEI brief / The NDC-SDG Connections tool shows there is great potential for policy coherence between implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement.
The initiative focused much of its work where the need for development finance in general, and climate adaptation finance, in particular, is greatest: Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
We presented our analysis of SIDS-focused climate finance in various regional fora to SIDS decision makers. We also hosted side events at the UN climate change conferences — COP22, COP23 and COP25 — to discuss different aspects of development and climate finance that are relevant to SIDS, with participation from SIDS government representatives and from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP).
Feedback from different organizations and governments indicates that the work has contributed to SIDS representatives now better able to understand the landscape of climate finance, and thus to integrate this into future planning as they prepare climate policies and also climate projects for funding.
Journal article / This paper compares priorities in countries' climate commitments with their national development plans.
Perspective / National climate action plans are often framed narrowly and may overlook important aspects of climate change and development.
Journal article / Has aid to Small Island Developing States increased following international commitments to support their efforts to tackle climate change?
SEI working paper / This report analyses concessional international public flows of climate finance to Indian Ocean and African Small Island Developing States
SEI working paper / The Caribbean region’s small island developing states face considerable threats from climate change, and the costs involved exceed their financial capacity.
SEI working paper / Analysis of climate finance flows to Pacific Island states in 2010–2014 and recent data on flows from multilateral climate funds.
Find all publications, features, perspectives and more in our content archive.
SEI’s work on development finance and on better connecting climate and development policies continues. In particular, the new SEI Initiative on Integrated Climate and Development Planning seeks to enable low- and middle-income countries to integrate planning to achieve NDCs and SDGs.
Aid Atlas is being further developed to integrate a range of indicators of social, economic and environmental change in developing countries. The platform has already been met with great interest from key stakeholders in the fields of development and climate finance. You can follow its progress at aid-atlas.org.
Initiative / Our work on global finance looks at how the global financial system supports or undermines societal transitions.
Tool / Aid Atlas helps users to more easily understand how development funding is being provided, where it is going, and what it’s being used for.
Tool / The NDC Explorer is an interactive visual tool. It provides transparency and comparability data between countries using data from NDCs and INDCS.
Tool / Analyze and compare how climate actions correspond to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Journal article / This paper describes a dynamic one‐sector macroeconomic model that draws on both post‐Keynesian and classical/neo‐Marxian themes.
SEI brief / This policy brief examines the barriers and challenges that hinder further effectiveness of Kenya's climate finance coordination mechanisms.
Event on 17 September – 15 October / SEI launches a global event series with IPBES and IPCC Chairs, driving integrated nature and climate action for resilient societies across four continents.
Design and development by Soapbox.
