This report investigates the role of Swedish climate aid in achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The focus is on catalytic climate-change mitigation finance and the initiatives of three key institutions: the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Swedfund and the Nordic Development Fund (NDF). The aim has been to evaluate whether the funding for climate-change mitigation provided by these institutions can contribute significantly to the climate-change mitigation necessary to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

The report is based on three portfolio evaluations conducted by teams from Stockholm Environment Institute, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, and Perspectives Climate Research. The teams have evaluated the potential of the climate investments to contribute to the significant change needed to achieve the necessary reduction in emissions by 2030 to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C.

The evaluations are ex ante, i.e., based on expected results rather than actual outcomes. They discuss potential contributions towards overall climate-change mitigation objectives based on the five dimensions of transformative climate finance identified by the Transformational Change Learning Partnership (TCLP) of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The dimensions used in the evaluations are: speed, scale, systemic change and relevance. We also consider additionality.