The 2009 pledge to mobilize US$100 billion a year by 2020 in climate finance to developing nations was not specific on what types of funding could count. Indeterminacy and questionable claims make it impossible to know if developed nations have delivered; as 2020 passes, opportunity exists to address these failures in a new pledge.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Ciplet, D., Roberts, J. T. & Khan, M. Power in a Warming World: The New Global Politics of Climate Change and The Remaking of Environmental Inequality (MIT Press, 2015).
Copenhagen Accord (UNFCCC, 2009); https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/cop15/eng/l07.pdf
Weikmans, R. & Roberts, J. T. Clim. Dev. 11, 97–111 (2019).
Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries in 2013–18 (OECD Publishing, 2020); https://doi.org/10.1787/f0773d55-en
Climate Finance, Analysis of a Recent OECD Report: Some Credible Facts Needed (Indian Ministry of Finance, 2015); https://bit.ly/3o08LsV
Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020: Assessing Progress Towards the $100 Billion Commitment (Oxfam, 2020); https://bit.ly/3qLQLV9
Compilation and Synthesis of Third Biennial Reports of Parties Included in Annex I to the Convention (UNFCCC, 2018); https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/inf8.pdf
Climate Finance in 2013–14 and the USD 100 Billion Goal (OECD Publishing, 2015); https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264249424-en
Results of the First Survey on Coefficients that Members Apply to the Rio Marker Data When Reporting to the UN Conventions on Climate Change and Biodiversity (OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, 2019); https://bit.ly/3bTBrS8
Joint Report on Multilateral Development Banks’ Climate Finance (Multilateral Development Banks, 2016); https://bit.ly/3isETEq
Khan, M., Robinson, S., Weikmans, R., Ciplet, D. & Roberts, J. T. Climatic Change 161, 251–269 (2020).
Ciplet, D., Adams, K. M., Weikmans, R. & Roberts, J. T. Glob. Environ. Polit. 18, 130–150 (2018).
Yeo, S. Nature 573, 328–331 (2019).
Delivering on the $100 Billion Climate Finance Commitment and Transforming Climate Finance (The Independent Expert Group on Climate Finance, 2020); https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/100_billion_climate_finance_report.pdf
Robinson, S. & Dornan, M. Reg. Environ. Change 17, 1103–1115 (2017).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roberts, J.T., Weikmans, R., Robinson, Sa. et al. Rebooting a failed promise of climate finance. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 180–182 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-00990-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-00990-2
This article is cited by
-
The role of geostrategic interests in motivating public support for foreign climate aid
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (2024)
-
Three Injustices of Adaptation Finance - A Relational Egalitarian Analysis
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics (2024)
-
The Multi-Scalar Inequities of Climate Adaptation Finance: A Critical Review
Current Climate Change Reports (2024)
-
More Climate Finance from More Countries?
Current Climate Change Reports (2024)
-
Equity and Justice in Loss and Damage Finance: A Narrative Review of Catalysts and Obstacles
Current Climate Change Reports (2024)