Footing the bill: What is Sweden’s ’fair share’ of global climate finance?

This report analyzes whether Sweden provides its 'fair share' of international climate finance. It concludes that a definitive answer is impossible because 'climate finance' and 'fair share' lack globally agreed definitions. While Sweden provides significant funds, most are integrated into its Official Development Assistance (ODA), meaning it provides very little 'new and additional' finance. The report suggests Sweden could lead by improving reporting transparency and defining its own ambitious fair share targets.

• There is no globally accepted or objective definition of 'climate finance' or 'fair share', which makes it difficult to determine if any single country is meeting its obligations.
• The report defines global climate finance as financial flows from developed to developing countries intended for mitigation and adaptation activities, focusing specifically on public finance.
• Sweden's climate finance is primarily delivered through official development aid (ODA), which leads to the conclusion that it provides very little 'new and additional' climate finance if the definition is 'above a country’s ODA commitments'.
• Calculating Sweden's total climate finance contribution is challenging because the country lacks a central reporting system or a specific budget line for international climate change finance.
• Different formulas for calculating a 'fair share' yield widely varying results for Sweden. A pledge-based assessment suggests a requirement of 487 million euros per year by 2020 (approximately 4.3 billion SEK), while a needs-based calculation using the Greenhouse Development Rights framework and Stern's estimates suggests a much higher figure of $7.65 billion USD (about 51.7 billion SEK).
• Sweden has made several specific financial commitments, including 8 billion SEK for Fast Start Finance (2010-2012) and a pledge of 2.5 billion SEK for 2013.
• The report suggests that Sweden could lead internationally by improving its reporting transparency, clearly defining its own version of an ambitious 'fair share', and encouraging other EU member states to do the same.
• The Church of Sweden recommends that climate finance be separated from the development aid budget to ensure it meets the principle of additionality and suggests an initial additional allocation of 2 billion SEK in 2014, scaling up to 4.3 billion SEK by 2020.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (n.d.). Footing the bill: What is Sweden’s ’fair share’ of global climate finance? https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Footing_the_bill.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Footing the bill: What is Sweden’s ’fair share’ of global climate finance? n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Footing_the_bill.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Footing the bill: What is Sweden’s ’fair share’ of global climate finance? |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Footing_the_bill.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitutendfooting, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Footing the bill: What is Sweden’s ’fair share’ of global climate finance?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/Footing_the_bill.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }