Financing for Sustainable Development

This briefing paper examines the question of how practically we might achieve greater alignment between the use of development and climate finance, and sets out steps towards an integrated sustainable development financing framework.

Prepared as input to the sixth Independent Research Forum (IRF2015) retreat for SDG negotiators, the paper inks closely to discussions around creating synergies between the agendas of the Monterrey and Rio processes, and many of the issues discussed are in fact relevant for other flows of international finance, including those under the Rio Conventions on Biodiversity and on Desertification as well as for disaster risk reduction and environmental themes such as sustainable land management. The paper focuses largely on international public finance, however the approach to integration and coherence applies equally to other sources of finance, including both domestic and international sources.

The paper first briefly describes the current development and climate finance delivery channels and some of the concerns about lack of effectiveness, including some of the political economy challenges that exist and need to be acknowledged. It then elaborates some principles which might be used to guide the design of an international sustainable development financing framework, incorporating finance for development and for climate change. It emphasizes the importance of allocating finance through country systems for national social and economic development planning and budgeting, and also a need among funders and developing countries to shift from sectoral planning and budgeting to more integrated, sustainable development planning and budgeting. Finally, the paper presents some of the opportunities for reform to achieve this integrated financing framework for sustainable development, particularly in 2015.

Read the full background paper (external link) »