SEI INITIATIVE

This fact sheet describes the SEI Initiative on Climate Finance, a multi-disciplinary effort by the Stockholm Environment Institute to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness of the global climate finance regime, with a particular focus on supporting developing countries.

• The global cost for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change is estimated at several hundred billion U.S. dollars annually, with the most urgent needs located in developing countries.
• There are international commitments to mobilize 100 billion USD per year starting in 2020 to support adaptation and mitigation in developing countries, though the architecture for these flows is complex, involving bilateral, multilateral, and private sector streams.
• Measuring the effectiveness of climate finance is hindered by thin and non-transparent data, differing objectives among actors in the finance chain, and the difficulty of distinguishing between climate finance and general development finance.
• The global climate finance architecture is characterized by fragmentation, where funds are delivered through numerous channels with varying norms and strategic goals, often as short-term projects rather than long-term commitments. This creates high transaction costs for developing countries and can impede structural change.
• While private finance is expected to play a larger role, its viability for meeting urgent adaptation needs in developing countries is questioned, and there is limited analysis on the quantity and nature of existing private investments in these regions.
• The SEI Initiative is working to operationalize the concept of 'intolerable risks'—risks that threaten severe impacts on social or personal norms despite adaptation—and is exploring risk-sharing mechanisms like insurance to address these, including slow onset events.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2015). SEI INITIATIVE. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2015-Climate-Finance-Initiative.pdf

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. SEI INITIATIVE. 2015. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2015-Climate-Finance-Initiative.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=SEI INITIATIVE |date=2015 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2015-Climate-Finance-Initiative.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2015sei, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{SEI INITIATIVE}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2015}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-FS-2015-Climate-Finance-Initiative.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }