2021年全球气候金融报告（英）-48页_2mb

Summary of Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021

Core Content

The Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2021 report presents a comprehensive analysis of global climate finance flows, highlighting the current state of climate-related investments and the challenges in meeting international climate objectives.

Main Findings

• Total Climate Finance: Climate finance increased over the last decade, reaching USD 632 billion in 2019/2020. However, the growth rate slowed to 10% in the last few years, compared to previous periods where it grew over 24%. This is concerning as the full impact of the pandemic on climate finance remains unclear.

• Adaptation Finance: Adaptation finance increased by 53%, reaching USD 46 billion in 2019/2020. Despite this, it remains far below the required scale to address climate risks, with UNEP estimating adaptation costs in developing economies to be between USD 155 and USD 330 billion annually by 2030. Public finance still dominates adaptation funding, while private sector data is limited.

• Investment Gaps: The report highlights that global climate finance is significantly below the estimated annual need of USD 4.5–5 trillion by 2050. Fossil fuel investments, which exceed USD 850 billion annually, need to be drastically reduced.

• Sources of Finance:

  • Public Finance: Contributed USD 321 billion annually in 2019/2020, representing 51% of total climate finance. Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) accounted for USD 219 billion, with state-owned financial institutions contributing USD 38 billion.
  • Private Finance: Provided USD 310 billion annually, a 13% increase from 2017/2018. Corporations were the largest contributors (40%), followed by commercial financial institutions (39%) and household spending (third largest share).

• Instruments:

  • Debt: The most common instrument, accounting for 61% of total climate finance (USD 384 billion), with USD 337 billion at market rate.
  • Equity: Represented 33% of total climate finance (USD 110 billion), up from 29% in the previous period.
  • Grants: Represented 6% of total climate finance (USD 36 billion), up from 5% in 2017/2018.

• Sectors:

  • Renewables: Solar PV and onshore wind received over 91% of all mitigation investments, driven by private capital.
  • Low-Carbon Transport: The fastest-growing sector, with an average 23% increase. Private investments accounted for 48% of low-carbon transport finance.
  • Hard-to-Decarbonize Sectors: Investments in buildings and industry were USD 27.7 billion and USD 6.7 billion respectively, with limited data availability.
  • Adaptation: The largest share went to 'other & cross-sectoral' activities (USD 22 billion), followed by water and wastewater (USD 17 billion). Adaptation finance remains poorly tracked, especially in the private sector.

• Geographies:

  • Domestic Flows: Over 75% of climate finance flows were domestic in 2019/2020.
  • International Flows: Increased by USD 13 billion to USD 153 billion, primarily due to public investments from DFIs.
  • Regional Concentration: Three-quarters of global climate finance was concentrated in East Asia & Pacific, Western Europe, and North America. China accounted for 81% of East Asia & Pacific investments.

Key Recommendations

1. Scale Up Climate Finance: To meet climate objectives, annual climate finance needs to increase by at least 590% by 2030. This includes a significant boost in adaptation finance.
2. Improve Data and Transparency: Enhanced and standardized definitions, methodologies, and data access are needed to inform investment decisions. More granular data is required, especially on adaptation, AFOLU, and industrial sectors.
3. Coordinate Monitoring and Transition Plans: Credible, coordinated monitoring of commitments is essential, with clear transition plans and interim goals to align with the Paris Agreement and net zero targets.
4. Enhance Climate-Aligned Finance: Organizations must set science-based net zero targets, integrate climate considerations into operations, and align finance flows with sustainability goals.
5. Promote Blended Finance: Blended finance, which uses concessional capital to attract private investment, has significant potential to overcome barriers and scale climate investment, especially in adaptation and hard-to-decarbonize sectors.

Conclusion

The report underscores the urgent need for increased climate finance to meet global climate objectives and avoid the most dangerous impacts of climate change. It calls for stronger data collection, improved transparency, and coordinated efforts across public and private sectors to ensure that investments are aligned with sustainable and net zero pathways. The role of public finance remains critical, especially in adaptation, while private finance is growing and playing an increasingly important role in renewable energy and low-carbon transport.