# International Climate Finance: Research programme on international climate finance and its reform

Published by Perspectives Climate Group. Canonical page: https://perspectives.cc/initiatives/international-climate-finance/

A research programme examining how international climate finance is defined, counted and delivered, from the USD 100 billion goal to the New Collective Quantified Goal. Working papers and briefings trace where the system falls short and which reforms would raise its efficiency and effectiveness.

- Active since: 2022
- Field: Climate Finance
- Participants: Policymakers, negotiators and researchers

## Overview

International climate finance is what lets developing countries pursue low-carbon (mitigation) and climate-resilient (adaptation) pathways. It bridges the financing gap for projects that would otherwise struggle to attract investment, particularly in regions with limited access to capital. Grants-based climate finance and highly concessional loans pay for local capacity-building, the piloting of new solutions, and policy alignment with the Paris Agreement. Public money also draws in private participation, multiplying its reach. And it is what makes an equitable response to the climate crisis possible, so that no country, region, indigenous people or local community is left behind.

## Aims

- Clarity on the numbers: Disentangle the definitions and accounting practices behind disputed climate-finance figures, so pledges can be tracked against delivery.
- Reforms that raise effectiveness: Identify reforms to the delivery system that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of international climate finance.
- Evidence into the negotiations: Feed analysis into the UNFCCC finance negotiations, including the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance.

## International climate finance in the UNFCCC

Climate finance is among the key negotiation streams at international climate conferences. Reaching the USD 100 billion climate finance target and agreeing the New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance were both milestones for international climate finance. They also exposed significant shortcomings, in quantity and in quality, against the scale of the climate challenges we already face. International climate finance needs to be more ambitious, more inclusive and driven by actual needs, at the scale the problem requires.

The climate finance team at Perspectives follows climate finance negotiations under the UNFCCC, conducting research and providing consulting services.

## Debt-for-Climate swaps

Debt-for-Climate (DFC) swaps are a climate finance instrument designed to address the sovereign debt and climate crises together. By reducing debt and creating fiscal space for climate investment, they can mobilise badly needed climate finance for developing countries. We analyse what DFC swaps can do, and how to improve their scale, efficiency and alignment with national climate goals.

## Loss and Damage

Climate change intensifies extreme weather such as heatwaves and flash floods, and the result is loss and damage (L&D) for vulnerable communities worldwide. The global average temperature has already risen by more than 1.1 degrees C above the pre-industrial period and the rate of increase is unbroken, so the severity and scope of climate impacts will almost certainly escalate in the coming years. L&D matters most to low-income countries and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are disproportionately affected while having contributed only marginally to the problem. They also often lack the resources to adapt, which leaves them more exposed to severe L&D. Any approach to L&D therefore has to cover mitigation as well as adaptation, including comprehensive risk management, if future losses are to be reduced.

## Key publications

- 11/2025, [Updated Pocket Guide to Finance under the UNFCCC](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/updated-pocket-guide-to-finance-under-the-unfccc/)
- 08/2024, [New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/finding-common-ground-on-the-new-quantified-collective-goal-on-19101/)
- 11/2023, [International Climate Finance from a Global Perspective (Working Paper)](https://www.oefse.at/publikationen/working-papers/detail-working-paper/publication/show/Publication/international-climate-finance-from-a-global-perspective/)
- 10/2022, [Handbook of International Climate Finance](https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook/book/9781784715656/9781784715656.xml)
- 01/2026, [Debt-for-Carbon: Using Carbon Credits for Debt Relief](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/debt-for-carbon-using-carbon-credits-for-debt-relief/)
- 04/2024, [Debt-for-Climate Swaps: a controversial tool to unlock climate change mitigation and adaptation in countries with high debt burden](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/debt-for-climate-swaps-a-controversial-tool-to-unlock-climate-change-18218/)
- 12/2023, [Debt-for-Climate swaps as a tool to tackle climate and debt crises: opportunities and challenges](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/debt-for-climate-swaps-as-a-tool-to-tackle-climate-and-debt-crises-15223/)
- 11/2023, [Towards closing a deal on finance for Loss and Damage (L&D): mobilising innovative sources](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/towards-closing-a-deal-on-finance-for-loss-and-damage-ld-mobilising-15226/)
- 11/2023, [L&D Pilot Funding Arrangements: tools to respond to non-economic loss and damage](https://ecbi.org/sites/default/files/L_%26_D_Pilot_Funding_Arrangements.pdf)
- 10/2023, [Loss and Damage Finance: An assessment of the most promising instruments](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/loss-and-damage-finance-an-assessment-of-the-most-promising-15229/)
- 11/2024, [Sida's Climate Mitigation Finance: a Portfolio Evaluation](https://eba.se/en/reports/sidas-climate-mitigation-finance-a-portfolio-evaluation/21577/)
- 10/2024, [Swedish Climate-change Mitigation Finance](https://eba.se/en/reports/swedish-climate-change-mitigation-finance/21559/)
- 05/2022, [Definitions and accounting of climate finance: between divergence and constructive ambiguity](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14693062.2022.2080634)
- 07/2020, [Do Multilateral Development Bank Trust Funds Allocate Climate Finance Efficiently?](https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5529)
- 07/2020, [Mobilising private climate finance for sustainable energy access and climate change mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/mobilising-private-climate-finance-for-sustainable-energy-access-and-15396/)
- 06/2020, [Climate Change-related Trust Funds at the Multilateral Development Banks](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/climate-change-trust-funds-at-multilateral-development-banks/)
- 08/2018, [Linking the Clean Development Mechanism with the Green Climate Fund: Insights from Practitioners and Decision Makers in Africa](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/linking-the-clean-development-mechanism-with-the-green-climate-fund/)
- 05/2016, [Investing in Ambition: Analysis of the financial aspects in (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions](https://perspectives.cc/work/publications/investing-in-ambition-analysis-of-the-financial-aspects-in-intended-15476/)

## Team

- [Chido Muzondo](https://perspectives.cc/people/chido-muzondo/)
- [Philipp Censkowsky](https://perspectives.cc/people/philipp-censkowsky/)
- [Luisa Weber](https://perspectives.cc/people/luisa-weber/)
- [Igor Shishlov](https://perspectives.cc/people/igor-shishlov/)
- [Sherri Ombuya](https://perspectives.cc/people/sherri-ombuya/)
- [Max Schmidt](https://perspectives.cc/people/max-schmidt/)
- [Ziqun Jia](https://perspectives.cc/people/ziqun-jia/)

Cite this page as: Perspectives Climate Group. International Climate Finance: Research programme on international climate finance and its reform. Available at: https://perspectives.cc/initiatives/international-climate-finance/