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

Between 2010 and 2014, US$748 million in climate finance primarily targeting climate change was committed to 15 Pacific SIDS, predominantly as grants. The funding was split between adaptation (59%) and mitigation (36%), with 72% sourced through bilateral channels, led by Australia. The vast majority of support (86%) was project-based, with a heavy concentration in creating 'enabling environments' and renewable energy. The analysis notes that Polynesian countries were more successful in attracting diverse funding than Micronesian countries, and highlights significant differences in flexibility and transaction costs between bilateral and multilateral funding sources.

• From 2010 to 2014, US$748 million in finance primarily targeting climate change was committed to 15 Pacific Island countries, representing approximately 6% of total development assistance flows for the region reported in the CRS.
• Climate finance was distributed with 59% (US$441 million) supporting adaptation, 36% (US$273 million) for mitigation, and 5% (US$34 million) targeting both objectives.
• Bilateral channels were the dominant source of finance, providing 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.
• The delivery of climate finance is overwhelmingly project-based, accounting for 86% of funding, while direct budget support is rare at only 1% and was only provided to Samoa, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands.
• The largest share of funding was directed toward creating an 'enabling environment,' which includes mainstreaming climate change into national planning and policy development. For mitigation, renewable energy was the most supported category.
• Polynesian countries (Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, and Tuvalu) were more successful at attracting climate finance, both in total and per capita, than similarly populated Micronesian countries (FSM, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Palau, and Nauru).
• Bilateral funding sources offer greater flexibility in scope and lower transaction costs compared to multilateral funds, which often have more narrow definitions of fund use and higher burdens for proposal preparation.
• There is a significant gap between committed and disbursed funds, particularly for multilateral sources, which reached only an 8% disbursement rate between 2010 and 2014, partly due to reporting gaps by the GEF and delays in the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience.
• Between 2010 and September 2016, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) made significant allocations to Fiji (US$31 million) and Tuvalu (US$36 million), indicating a shift toward larger-scale infrastructure projects.

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} }