Paying for the Paris Agreement

The report argues that current climate finance is woefully inadequate to meet Paris Agreement goals, with developing countries alone requiring $4.3 trillion for 2030 commitments. It outlines a three-stage framework—planning, implementation, and monitoring—and details a variety of fiscal and policy instruments to align public spending, increase public funding, and mobilize private capital.

• Global climate finance is significantly insufficient; while annual climate finance reached $632 billion by 2020, the Climate Policy Initiative estimates that public and private finance must increase to $5 trillion by 2030 to meet NDC targets.
• Developing countries face a massive funding gap, with those reporting finance requirements stating a need for $4.3 trillion to implement 2030 commitments, which is roughly four times the $100 billion annual pledge made by developed countries.
• Effective NDC financing requires a 'whole-of-government' approach, moving beyond environment ministries to integrate finance, economy, and planning ministries into the governance structure.
• Governments can align existing public expenditure through direct investments, sustainable procurement standards (which represent 13-20% of global GDP), and the reform of fossil fuel subsidies.
• To increase public finance, governments can utilize international development assistance, issue climate-related bonds (the green bond market reached $2.8 trillion by 2021), establish national climate funds, or engage in debt-for-climate swaps.
• Mobilizing private finance can be achieved through carbon pricing (ETS and carbon taxes), loan guarantees, catalytic capital, public-private partnerships (PPPs), tax credits, and mandatory climate risk disclosures.
• Monitoring progress is essential and is increasingly done through 'climate budget tagging,' which identifies and measures climate-relevant expenditure within national budget systems.

APA

Caldwell, M., Alayza, N., & Larsen, G. (2022). Paying for the Paris Agreement. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-11/paying-for-the-paris-agreement_1.pdf

Chicago

Caldwell, Molly, Natalia Alayza, and Gaia Larsen. Paying for the Paris Agreement. World Resources Institute, 2022. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-11/paying-for-the-paris-agreement_1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Caldwell |first1=Molly |last2=Alayza |first2=Natalia |last3=Larsen |first3=Gaia |title=Paying for the Paris Agreement |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=November 2022 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-11/paying-for-the-paris-agreement_1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{caldwell2022paying, author = {Caldwell, Molly and Alayza, Natalia and Larsen, Gaia}, title = {{Paying for the Paris Agreement}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-11/paying-for-the-paris-agreement_1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }