The Challenges of Financing for Development Amid Climate Crisis and Debt Stress

Abstract

Despite the broad declarations made at the Fourth Financing for Development Conference in Seville, Spain in 2025, it is evident that few of the countries with global surpluses have any real commitment to deploy these funds in ways that would enable sustainable development and climate change alleviation in other regions, or even in their own countries. Meanwhile, the multilateral financial architecture, which was already unfit for purpose because it has been unable to mobilise and channel the large volumes of finance required, is being further debilitated by internal attacks by some of the largest member countries, particularly the US. It is increasingly evident that governments in the low- and middle income-countries (henceforth LMICs) must rely on their own resources to finance development and address climate change.