Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2017

The 2017 Global Landscape of Climate Finance report finds that global climate finance peaked at $437 billion in 2015 before declining by 12% to $383 billion in 2016. The 2015 surge was primarily driven by private renewable energy investments in China, the U.S., and Japan. While solar and wind investments are largely on track for 2°C goals, other sectors like energy efficiency and adaptation remain significantly underfunded. Public finance is increasingly focused on energy efficiency, while multilateral development finance institutions (DFIs) are progressing toward their 2020 targets. The report highlights a strong preference for domestic investment, with 79% of finance remaining within the country of origin during 2015/2016.

• Global climate finance flows reached a record high of $437 billion in 2015, but experienced a 12% decrease to $383 billion in 2016.
• The 2015 peak was primarily caused by a surge in private investments in renewable energy, specifically rooftop solar in the U.S. and Japan, and general renewable projects in China.
• The decline in 2016 was attributed to a 10% average decrease in technology costs, particularly for solar, and a slowdown in capacity additions in China due to a phase-down in revenue support for wind and a focus on grid integration.
• Private investment in renewable electricity generation exceeded new fossil-fuel power generation investment by more than 100% in both 2015 and 2016.
• Public finance is shifting its priority toward energy efficiency, which has overtaken renewable energy as the primary focus of public mitigation investment, receiving an average of $39 billion over 2015 and 2016.
• Adaptation finance as a share of public climate finance fell from 18% in 2013/2014 to 16% in 2015/2016, though multilateral DFIs increased their adaptation commitments by approximately 29%.
• There is a strong preference for domestic investment, with an annual average of $324 billion (79% of total finance) staying within the country of origin during 2015/2016.
• Market-rate debt was the most utilized financial instrument, averaging $219 billion per year during 2015/2016 and representing 54% of total flows.

APA

Buchner, B. K., Oliver, P., Wang, X., Carswell, C., Meattle, C., & Mazza, F. (2017). Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2017. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017-Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance.pdf

Chicago

Buchner, Barbara K., Padraig Oliver, Xueying Wang, Cameron Carswell, Chavi Meattle, and Federico Mazza. Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2017. Climate Policy Initiative, 2017. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017-Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{buchner2017global, author = {Buchner, Barbara K. and Oliver, Padraig and Wang, Xueying and Carswell, Cameron and Meattle, Chavi and Mazza, Federico}, title = {{Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2017}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2017}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2017-Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }