Multilateral Development Banks Achieve Record $125 Billion in Climate Finance for 2023

The aim is to measure progress toward joint climate finance commitments established at COP21 and to reflect the enhanced ambitions for the post-2020 period.

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) announced today that their global climate finance reached an unprecedented $125 billion in 2023, marking a significant increase from previous years. This total, which more than doubles the $62 billion provided in 2019, reflects the commitment of institutions like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to bolster climate action following the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Action Summit.

ADB Director General for Sustainable Development and Climate Change, Bruno Carrasco, stated, “We welcome the fact that MDBs provided record climate finance last year—every dollar of which makes a difference in helping to cut carbon emissions or preparing people and infrastructure for the worst impacts of climate change, much of which we must recognize is already baked in.” He acknowledged the ongoing financing gap and reaffirmed ADB’s commitment to collaborate with other MDBs to channel more funds to developing countries. Of the total climate finance in 2023, $74.7 billion was directed toward low- and middle-income economies.

 

Notably, 67% of this funding—approximately $50 billion—was allocated for climate change mitigation, while $24.7 billion, or 33%, focused on adaptation strategies. Additionally, private finance mobilized for these economies amounted to $28.5 billion. High-income economies received $50.3 billion in climate finance, with 94% of this amount—around $47.3 billion—dedicated to mitigation efforts. Only $3 billion, or 6%, was allocated for adaptation, while private finance mobilized for high-income countries reached $72.7 billion. This announcement precedes COP29, scheduled for November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, where increasing global climate finance and establishing a new collective quantified goal for climate finance will be critical topics.

 

The Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance is an annual collaboration that compiles climate finance figures from various MDBs, providing transparency on the methodologies used to track this financing. This report, coordinated by the European Investment Bank (EIB), includes data from institutions such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the World Bank Group (WBG), among others. The aim is to measure progress toward joint climate finance commitments established at COP21 and to reflect the enhanced ambitions for the post-2020 period.