New data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicates that climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries increased to USD 132.8 billion in 2023 and USD 136.7 billion in 2024. While this suggests continued growth, campaigners argue that the headline figures hide deeper structural problems.
According to critics, the OECD’s accounting approach has long been seen as overstating actual climate finance delivered. As a result, the reported increase may be significantly smaller under stricter and more transparent accounting rules. At the same time, many developed countries are reducing overall development aid budgets, raising concerns that climate finance is increasingly being drawn from shrinking aid pools rather than representing genuinely new and additional funding.
There are also doubts about whether this modest upward trend can be sustained, especially given the scale of global climate impacts. Even with the reported increase, observers say the level of finance remains far below what is needed to meet global climate goals.
Andreas Sieber of 350.org said that while the OECD data shows some progress, it is far too slow relative to the urgency of the climate crisis. He argued that much of the reported increase may reflect reclassification of existing aid rather than the provision of genuinely new resources.
He further highlighted that in just a single quarter, profits from fossil fuel companies such as BP and TotalEnergies exceeded the annual increase in climate finance, stressing that the issue is not a lack of global wealth but a lack of political will.
Sieber also emphasized that the issue goes beyond financial accounting. He described climate finance as a matter of justice, noting that communities in the Global South are bearing the consequences of a crisis they did not cause, while fossil fuel companies continue to profit. He called for a shift away from financing polluting industries toward investments in climate resilience, adaptation, and a just energy transition.
