WASHINGTON, DC (May 29, 2024) — Today the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a report that confirmed that the $100 billion climate finance goal was met for the first time in 2022. This commitment, first made in 2009 in Copenhagen, was reaffirmed in 2015 as part of the Paris Agreement and covers the period from 2020 to 2025. The $100 billion goal is meant to be replaced with a new global climate finance goal at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan in November.

The following is a statement from Melanie Robinson, Global Climate, Economics and Finance Director, World Resources Institute:

"This report is significant because it marks the first time the OECD has confirmed that the $100 billion climate finance goal has been fully met. While the annual goal was achieved two years later than agreed, reaching this milestone is nonetheless encouraging news coming just before climate negotiators reassemble in Bonn.

“While fully reaching the $100 billion annual goal is worth celebrating, the funding needed to come to grips with the climate crisis in the years ahead goes well beyond this amount. Tackling climate change will require unprecedented measures to deeply decarbonize every sector of the economy, conserve and restore nature, and better protect people, communities and supply chains from increasingly severe climate impacts. For many developing countries, making this transition will be impossible without considerably greater flows of finance than we see today. While domestic finance, strong policies and private finance are important, for these countries, international public finance needs to play a lynchpin role.  

“Addressing this major funding gap is the top priority when the world comes together at the COP29 summit to negotiate a new global goal for climate finance for the first time in fifteen years. Success in Baku goes beyond just securing a much larger top-line dollar figure. For instance, it is crucial that the new climate finance goal ensures that funding is accessible and doesn’t burden developing countries with more unsustainable debt. And there must be strong measures in place to report progress, hold countries accountable for meeting their obligations on time and increase transparency of all climate finance.  

“The outcome of the climate summit in Baku will have immediate knock-on effects, coming just months before countries submit their new national climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. If countries deliver an ambitious climate finance goal in Baku, developing countries in need of international climate finance will be in a much better position to put forward bold climate commitments and help keep global temperatures in check.”