Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States

This research paper by the Stockholm Environment Institute analyses international climate finance flows to 15 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific from 2010 to 2014, using data from the OECD Development Assistance Committee's Creditor Reporting System (CRS). It quantifies the volume, sources, and sectoral distribution of funds, highlighting a heavy reliance on bilateral grants and project-based delivery.

• Between 2010 and 2014, a total of US$748 million in finance primarily targeting climate change was committed to 15 Pacific Island countries, representing approximately 6% of total reported flows for the region. The vast majority of these flows were provided as grants.
• Climate finance in the region was distributed with 59% allocated to adaptation, 36% to mitigation, and 5% targeting both objectives simultaneously.
• Bilateral channels were the dominant source of climate finance, accounting for 72% (US$538 million) of the funds primarily targeting climate change. Australia was the largest bilateral donor, followed by Japan, the European Union, and New Zealand.
• Among multilateral sources up to 2014, the Global Environment Facility (GEF)—including the GEF Trust Fund and the Least Developed Countries Fund—was the largest contributor, providing US$131 million.
• The delivery of climate finance is overwhelmingly project-based, accounting for 86% of funding. Direct budget support is extremely rare at 1%, and sector budget support is also 1%, with such support provided only to Samoa, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands.
• The largest share of funding was directed toward creating an "enabling environment," which includes developing climate policies and mainstreaming climate change into national planning. For adaptation, research was the next largest category; for mitigation, renewable energy was the primary focus.
• There is a notable disparity in the ability to attract climate finance between island groups: Polynesian countries (Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, and Tuvalu) have been more successful in attracting funding and diversifying sources than similarly populated Micronesian countries.
• Bilateral funding channels demonstrate greater flexibility and diversity than multilateral ones, working with a wider variety of first recipients, supporting more sectors, and utilizing non-project-based delivery mechanisms like budget support.
• Pacific Island government entities are listed as the first recipient of funds only about 17% of the time. International organizations (33%) and donor country government entities (16%) are more frequent first recipients, indicating a high reliance on intermediaries.
• Disbursement rates vary significantly by source: bilateral sources disbursed approximately 76% of committed funds between 2010 and 2014, whereas multilateral sources reached only 8% disbursement, partly due to reporting gaps from the GEF.

APA

Atteridge, A., & Canales, N. (2017). Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows.pdf

Chicago

Atteridge, Aaron, and Nella Canales. Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atteridge |first1=Aaron |last2=Canales |first2=Nella |title=Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=January 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{atteridge2017climate, author = {Atteridge, Aaron and Canales, Nella}, title = {{Climate finance in the Pacific: An overview of flows to the region’s Small Island Developing States}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = jan, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Climate/SEI-WP-2017-04-Pacific-climate-finance-flows.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }