Accelerating Paris-Aligned Financial Flows: A Typology for Facilitating a Paris-Aligned COVID-19 Recovery

This research paper by the World Resources Institute analyzes COVID-19 recovery packages from G20 countries to assess their alignment with the Paris Agreement. The authors developed a typology of policies and interventions to guide decision-makers toward a greener recovery, finding that most initial stimulus actions favored business-as-usual (BAU) investments over climate-resilient pathways.

• Between March 1, 2020, and January 31, 2021, G20 countries primarily utilized business-as-usual (BAU) policies and investments in their COVID-19 recovery efforts. These BAU actions support carbon-intensive activities and risk making Paris goals unattainable by locking in high-carbon technologies and business models.
• G20 recovery packages have lacked systematic consideration of climate risk and have focused on a limited subset of available policy levers. Investments were concentrated in the building, transport, and energy sectors, while sectors such as water and waste management, nature, industry, agriculture, and disaster risk reduction received little investment.
• The ability of countries to implement Paris-compatible interventions during the pandemic depended heavily on whether they had 'shovel-ready' projects and delivery mechanisms already in place. A lack of internal processes dedicated to Paris-compatible investments hindered the design of robust green recoveries.
• Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and bilateral agencies shifted their portfolios to address immediate health crises and provide liquidity to financial intermediaries for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, multilateral climate funds maintained portfolios that were more supportive of adaptation and nature than those of MDBs or bilateral agencies.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Accelerating Paris-Aligned Financial Flows: A Typology for Facilitating a Paris-Aligned COVID-19 Recovery. https://www.wri.org/research/accelerating-paris-aligned-financial-flows-typology-facilitating-paris-aligned-covid-19

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Accelerating Paris-Aligned Financial Flows: A Typology for Facilitating a Paris-Aligned COVID-19 Recovery. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/accelerating-paris-aligned-financial-flows-typology-facilitating-paris-aligned-covid-19.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Accelerating Paris-Aligned Financial Flows: A Typology for Facilitating a Paris-Aligned COVID-19 Recovery |url=https://www.wri.org/research/accelerating-paris-aligned-financial-flows-typology-facilitating-paris-aligned-covid-19 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendaccelerating, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Accelerating Paris-Aligned Financial Flows: A Typology for Facilitating a Paris-Aligned COVID-19 Recovery}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/accelerating-paris-aligned-financial-flows-typology-facilitating-paris-aligned-covid-19}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }