Public Financial Institutions' Climate Commitments

This report by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) analyzes the climate commitments of the 70 largest public financial institutions, representing USD 20.4 trillion in assets. It finds a significant gap in ambition, particularly among national and subnational development banks and institutions in non-OECD countries, where Paris-aligned and net-zero targets are rare. The report highlights a lack of specificity in climate finance goals, a deficiency in adaptation-focused commitments, and a general slow adoption of institutional climate strategies. CPI identifies insufficient accountability and a lack of government and global coalition guidance as primary barriers and provides recommendations to strengthen the integrity of public finance in the energy transition.

• A small minority of the largest public financial institutions have set high-ambition mitigation targets; only 20 institutions, representing 25% of tracked assets, have established net zero or Paris alignment targets.
• Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) lead in climate commitments, while other public financial institutions lag. Of the 15 institutions with Paris alignment targets, eight are MDBs.
• Climate finance and sustainability goals are the most common type of commitment, appearing in 47% of institutions and covering 82% of total assets, but they frequently lack quantitative data or sectoral and geographical specificity.
• There is a critical shortage of explicit commitments to climate adaptation. Only six public financial institutions have set climate finance goals mentioning adaptation, and five of these are MDBs.
• Institutional climate strategies are not yet mainstreamed; only 54% of the sampled entities have strategies outlining how climate goals integrate into operations and planning, with most of these being global or OECD-based.
• National and subnational development banks show significantly lower ambition than their peers. Despite making up 53% of the sample, only nine have set mitigation targets and only nine have announced climate finance goals.
• Public financial institutions in non-OECD countries have almost no climate commitments. Only one of the 17 tracked entities operating exclusively in non-OECD countries (excluding MDBs) has set a net zero, carbon neutral, or Paris aligned commitment.
• A major barrier to progress is the lack of specific guidance and accountability from global coalitions. Many institutions sign high-level coalition pledges but do not codify them into their own institutional strategies with quantifiable actions.
• Governments are failing to provide the necessary steering and mandates to their public financial institutions. Out of 37 national/subnational institutions in countries with net zero commitments, only four have made their own net zero or Paris aligned commitments.

APA

Pastor, A. O., Pinko, N., Chin, N., & Tonkonogy, B. (2022). Public Financial Institutions' Climate Commitments. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/public-financial-institutions-climate-commitments.pdf

Chicago

Pastor, Angela Ortega, Nicole Pinko, Neil Chin, and Bella Tonkonogy. Public Financial Institutions' Climate Commitments. Climate Policy Initiative, 2022. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/public-financial-institutions-climate-commitments.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Pastor |first1=Angela Ortega |last2=Pinko |first2=Nicole |last3=Chin |first3=Neil |last4=Tonkonogy |first4=Bella |title=Public Financial Institutions' Climate Commitments |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=October 2022 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/public-financial-institutions-climate-commitments.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{pastor2022public, author = {Pastor, Angela Ortega and Pinko, Nicole and Chin, Neil and Tonkonogy, Bella}, title = {{Public Financial Institutions' Climate Commitments}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/public-financial-institutions-climate-commitments.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }