SEI INITIATIVE

The SEI Initiative on Climate Finance focuses on enhancing the delivery and effectiveness of climate finance for developing countries. It addresses four primary areas: defining and evaluating effectiveness to ensure long-term social and economic change; reforming the fragmented global finance architecture to reduce transaction costs; analyzing the role and viability of private finance in adaptation and energy transitions; and operationalizing the concept of 'intolerable risks' to better address loss and damage.

• The global climate finance architecture is characterized by fragmentation, where funds are delivered through numerous channels with varying norms and strategic goals. For developing countries, this complexity, combined with short-term project packaging and poor coordination, can lead to high transaction costs and hinder the ability to achieve long-term structural change.
• There is a significant lack of clarity and a gap in literature regarding the 'effectiveness' of climate finance, with most current descriptions focusing on inputs (funds mobilized), processes (allocation), or short-term outputs rather than the long-term quality and sustainability of changes in livelihoods and resilience.
• While private finance is expected to play an increasing role, its viability for meeting the most pressing 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 concept of 'intolerable risks'—risks that threaten severe impacts on social or personal norms despite adaptation—requires clearer operational definitions to distinguish them from 'tolerable', 'unavoidable', or 'residual' risks, which has significant implications for future finance mechanisms and the Warsaw International Mechanism on Loss and Damage.
• The combined annual cost for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change is estimated at several hundred billion U.S. dollars, with the most urgent needs located in developing countries. There are commitments to mobilize 100 billion USD per year for this purpose starting in 2020.

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} }