The broken $100-billion promise of climate finance — and how to fix it

At Glasgow’s COP26 summit, countries will argue for more money to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.

1. Jocelyn Timperley
   1. Jocelyn Timperley is a freelance climate journalist in San José, Costa Rica.

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   Twelve years ago, at a United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, rich nations made a significant pledge. They promised to channel US$100 billion a year to less wealthy nations by 2020, to help them adapt to climate change and mitigate further rises in temperature.

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   Nature 598, 400-402 (2021)

   References

   1. Independent Expert Group on Climate Finance. Delivering on the $100 Billion Climate Finance Commitment and Transforming Climate Finance (Independent Expert Group on Climate Finance, 2020). Google Scholar
   2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries: Aggregate Trends Updated with 2019 Data (OECD, 2021). Google Scholar
   3. Multilateral Development Banks. 2020 Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance (Multilateral Development Banks, 2020). Google Scholar
   4. Carty, T., Kowalzig J. & Zagema, B. Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020 (Oxfam, 2020). Google Scholar
   5. Bos, J. & Thwaites, J. A Breakdown of Developed Countries’ Public Climate Finance Contributions Towards the $100 Billion Goal (World Resources Institute, 2021). Google Scholar
   6. United Nations Environment Programme. Adaptation Gap Report 2020 (UNEP, 2020). Google Scholar
   7. Naran, B. et al.Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021 (Climate Policy Initiative, 2021). Google Scholar

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