Increasing Public Finance

The document details mechanisms for raising public finance for climate action, focusing on the roles of international funding, debt instruments, and national vehicles. It examines the benefits and challenges of international public finance, the growth of the climate bond market, the utility of debt-for-climate swaps in reducing debt burdens, and the operational structure of national climate funds. The guide provides specific examples of these instruments in practice across various developing and middle-income countries.

• International public climate finance, consisting of multilateral and bilateral funding from developed to developing nations, is essential for funding climate activities that would otherwise be unaffordable, particularly for least-developed countries that rely on grants and highly concessional loans.
• Accessing international public finance is challenging due to high standards for project design and a lack of sufficient funding; developed countries have not yet met their committed US$ 100 billion funding goal.
• Climate bonds allow governments to raise capital for climate projects by linking debt to positive environmental or social impacts. As of 2022, green, social, and sustainability bonds totaled US$ 858.5 billion, with green bonds accounting for US$ 487.1 billion.
• Debt-for-climate swaps enable countries to reduce their debt burden in exchange for commitments to invest in climate initiatives, thereby increasing fiscal space without adding new debt. An example is Belize, which in 2021 bought back $553 million in bonds at a discounted rate of 55 cents per dollar, partly financed by $364 million in blue bonds.
• National climate funds serve as specialized vehicles to pool domestic and international resources, coordinate funding across ministries, and improve transparency. Examples include Chile's Fondo Naturaleza Chile (2021), Botswana's National Environment Fund (2016), and Costa Rica's FONAFIFO (1996).

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Increasing Public Finance. https://www.wri.org/paying-for-paris/increasing-public-finance

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Increasing Public Finance. n.d. https://www.wri.org/paying-for-paris/increasing-public-finance.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Increasing Public Finance |url=https://www.wri.org/paying-for-paris/increasing-public-finance |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendincreasing, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Increasing Public Finance}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/paying-for-paris/increasing-public-finance}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }