Public Development Banks’ Climate Commitments 2024

The report finds that climate ambition among public development banks (PDBs) is plateauing and highly polarized. While some institutions have adopted comprehensive Paris alignment and net-zero targets, over half of the 170 tracked PDBs show limited-to-no ambition. This divergence is closely linked to enabling factors: high-ambition PDBs typically benefit from supportive government policies, developed financial systems, and active membership in multi-institutional networks. Conversely, minimally ambitious PDBs often operate in contexts with weak policy support and underdeveloped investment pipelines. The report concludes that ambitious PDBs generate higher volumes of climate finance as a share of assets and recommends leveraging multi-institutional networks to lift less ambitious banks toward leading standards.

• Climate ambition among tracked PDBs is plateauing, with the rate of new commitments declining since 2022. Only 70 of the 170 tracked institutions have committed to fully aligning with the Paris Agreement.
• PDBs are polarized into distinct ambition clusters. High-ambition banks (including large multilateral DFIs and bilateral DFIs in advanced economies) have comprehensive commitments, while a 'minimal' cluster of 63 institutions—primarily NDBs/SNDBs in high-to-middle-income countries—have little-to-no tracked commitments.
• There is a strong correlation between a PDB's climate ambition and its engagement with multi-institutional networks. 79% of high-ambition PDBs and 73% of substantial-ambition PDBs are members of such networks, compared to only 33% of limited-ambition and 25% of minimal-ambition PDBs.
• External enabling factors, such as government policy and investment context, significantly influence ambition. Minimal-ambition PDBs are linked to the lowest shareholder government fiscal flexibility, weakest climate investment pipelines, and highest local economy emissions intensity.
• Higher climate ambition translates to higher actual climate finance flows. PDBs with high ambition have seen median climate finance flows relative to assets increase substantially, while flows for limited and minimal ambition PDBs decreased between 2018-20 and 2021-22.
• The implementation of climate commitments follows a structured four-stage iterative process: scoping climate finance activities, setting commitments, integrating commitments into operations, and assessing progress.
• Paris alignment commitments alone are insufficient to scale climate finance; complementary commitments such as climate investment goals and counterparty engagement policies are necessary to deliver accelerated investment.

APA

Chin, N., Schell-Smith, K., & Feng, Y. (2024). Public Development Banks’ Climate Commitments 2024. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PDB-Commitments-Tracking-2024.pdf

Chicago

Chin, Neil, Ken Schell-Smith, and Yijing Feng. Public Development Banks’ Climate Commitments 2024. Climate Policy Initiative, 2024. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PDB-Commitments-Tracking-2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Chin |first1=Neil |last2=Schell-Smith |first2=Ken |last3=Feng |first3=Yijing |title=Public Development Banks’ Climate Commitments 2024 |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=December 2024 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PDB-Commitments-Tracking-2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{chin2024public, author = {Chin, Neil and Schell-Smith, Ken and Feng, Yijing}, title = {{Public Development Banks’ Climate Commitments 2024}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2024}, month = dec, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/PDB-Commitments-Tracking-2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }