We examine what drives climate finance mobilisation across countries and whether funding aligns with recipient priorities.
Aligning climate finance with national priorities
Dr. Ruth D. Carlitz and Dr. Gabriela Alberola study whether international climate finance aligns with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the national climate plans through which Global South governments set out their priorities under the Paris Agreement. Early findings indicate that international aid is frequently misaligned with recipient-country NDCs and that these plans do not systematically influence how donors allocate funding across sectors.
A related strand of research examines how climate finance tagged as contributing to gender equality is distributed in practice, including where it flows, what activities it funds, and how funding patterns relate to gender equality conditions in recipient countries. This work also explores whether greater representation of women in political decision-making translates into more gender-responsive climate policy and finance, examining the relationship between descriptive representation and the integration of gender into national climate commitments.
This workstream has also supported in-depth investigations into the climate finance allocation patterns of right-wing governments and the congruence between citizens and governments in priorities for climate action.
Role of International Financial Institutions in climate finance
Oluwatosin Olowookere examines the growing climate engagement of traditional neoliberal multilateral institutions, such as the IMF, and its implications for lending conditionality. Using text analysis of the IMF's bilateral surveillance, the research develops a novel longitudinal measure of the institution's climate strategy across developing countries and assesses its impact on fiscal and debt policy conditionalities.
African agency in global climate governance
Tendai E. Kasinganeti examines how African actors seek to shape global climate governance and climate finance through continental diplomacy, collective voice, climate initiatives, and institutional experimentation. His research traces how African consensus is produced across continental and global fora, how political commitments are translated into financing and implementation pathways, and how carbon-market rules are domesticated across Africa amid global regulatory uncertainty.