Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021

Global climate finance reached USD 632 billion in 2019/2020, but growth has plateaued, with an increase of only 10% between 2017/2018 and 2019/2020. To meet 1.5 °C objectives by 2030, annual finance must increase by at least 590% to USD 4.35 trillion. Mitigation remains the primary recipient of funds, dominated by renewable energy, while adaptation finance is growing but remains almost exclusively public. Investment is heavily concentrated in East Asia and Pacific, Western Europe, and North America.

• Global climate finance flows reached USD 632 billion in 2019/2020, but the growth rate has slowed significantly. The increase between 2017/2018 and 2019/2020 was only 10%, compared to growth of more than 24% each period between 2013/2014 and 2017/2018.
• Current investment levels are insufficient to meet climate goals; annual climate finance must increase by at least 590% to reach USD 4.35 trillion by 2030 to meet climate objectives.
• Finance is split nearly equally between public and private actors, with public sources providing 51% (USD 321 billion) and private actors providing 49% (USD 310 billion). Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) provide the majority of public finance at 68% (USD 219 billion).
• Debt is the primary financial instrument, accounting for 61% (USD 384 billion) of climate finance in 2019/2020. Equity investments increased their share to 33%, while grants remained a small portion at 6%.
• Renewable energy is the largest mitigation sector, with solar PV and onshore wind attracting over 91% of mitigation investment. The private sector provided 69% (USD 223 billion) of renewable energy finance.
• Adaptation finance increased by almost 53% in 2019/2020 compared to 2017/2018, reaching an annual average of USD 46 billion. However, this remains almost entirely funded by public actors, with DFIs accounting for 80% (USD 36.8 billion) of this financing.
• Climate finance is geographically concentrated, with East Asia and Pacific receiving the largest share (USD 292 billion), with an estimated 81% of that region's investment concentrated in China.

APA

Naran, B., Fernandes, P., Padmanabhi, R., Rosane, P., Solomon, M., Stout, S., Strinati, C., Tolentino, R., Wakaba, E., Zhu, Y., & Buchner, B. (2021). Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-2021.pdf

Chicago

Naran, Baysa, Pedro Fernandes, Rajashree Padmanabhi, Paul Rosane, Matthew Solomon, Sean Stout, Costanza Strinati, et al. Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021. Climate Policy Initiative, 2021. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{naran2021global, author = {Naran, Baysa and Fernandes, Pedro and Padmanabhi, Rajashree and Rosane, Paul and Solomon, Matthew and Stout, Sean and Strinati, Costanza and Tolentino, Rowena and Wakaba, Elvis and Zhu, Yaxin and Buchner, Barbara}, title = {{Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Global-Landscape-of-Climate-Finance-2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }