A total of $7.1 billion was allocated to the climate and health nexus in 2022, marking a significant rise from the under $1 billion committed in 2018, revealed a new paper recently released at the 55th World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 in Davos.
Growing prioritization of climate and health financing
This trend indicates a growing prioritization of climate and health among leading financial partners; however, the financing is not adequately reaching the countries most affected by climate change. Specifically, less than 35 percent of financing from bilateral donors is directed towards these nations, while under 50 percent of the total funding analyzed reached low-income countries.
Reaching the Last Mile embodies one of the philanthropic global health initiatives led by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“While the increase in financing for climate and health projects is a promising step in the right direction, the overall amount of funding still falls far short of what is needed to protect lives and livelihoods from the devastating impacts of climate change,” stated Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President, Health, The Rockefeller Foundation. “Donors from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors must increase their commitments to climate and health, while also ensuring that funding reaches the communities that need it most.”
Defining climate and health finance commitments
The analysis, conducted by SEEK Development in collaboration with adelphi consult and AfriCatalyst, defines climate and health finance as international concessional funding for initiatives in and outside the health sector that address the direct health implications of climate change, assist the health sector in adapting to and mitigating climate change, and/or generate health co-benefits from climate action.
With heightened political backing for climate and health initiatives through the Group of 20, the Conference of the Parties, and the World Health Assembly, donors have intensified their efforts to allocate financing for projects at the intersection of climate and health. In 2022, this financing comprised:
- $4.8 billion in commitments from bilateral donors.
- $1.5 billion in commitments from two health multilateral funds.
- $0.6 billion in commitments from four multilateral development banks.
- $130 million in commitments from philanthropies.
- $23 million in commitments from various climate multilateral funds.
Trends in climate finance allocation and challenges
The report further highlights that bilateral donors are increasingly directing health investments that incorporate climate considerations: the share of climate finance allocated to the health sector surged from 1 percent in 2018 to 9 percent in 2022. Nevertheless, 24 percent of the available funding in 2022 was provided as loans rather than grants. More than 90 percent of the total funding from the Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank for climate and health financing was also issued as loans.
“Well-financed climate action is an opportunity to transform countries and economies and achieve health and wellbeing for all,” remarked Nassar Al Mubarak, CEO of Reaching the Last Mile. “As the report shows, now is the moment to invest in more ambitious, coordinated, and accessible funding, delivered where it is most needed.”
“Countries on the frontlines of climate change urgently need more accessible financing to protect their population’s health,” said Vanina Laurent-Ledru, Director General of Foundation S. “Business as usual is no longer an option; public, private, and philanthropic collaborations can help expedite flexible finance directly to local communities so they can urgently build climate-resilient health systems.”
There are several limitations to this analysis that reflect the challenges associated with transparency and clarity countries encounter in accessing financing. First, donor data on climate and health commitments are self-reported and utilize varying definitions of climate and health, complicating the verification of which commitments represent new financing for climate and health initiatives as opposed to reclassifications of related commitments or projects. Additionally, the lack of standardized data on finance flows from different funders and sectors hinders comparison across finance categories. While acknowledging these limitations, this report presents its findings as an initial overview of the funding landscape, offering a baseline understanding to bolster financing for climate and health.
Strengthening global commitments and improving access to funding
In an era of polycrisis and increasing fiscal constraints, countries have limited avenues to fund climate and health priorities. Evidence from the white paper indicates that funding from bilateral donors is likely to plateau or even decline in the near future. However, multilateral development banks, in conjunction with health and climate multilateral organizations, are progressively emphasizing climate and health in their strategies, signaling an opportunity to harness that financing to fulfill both climate and health objectives. Yet, despite the augmented financing prospects, countries still face obstacles accessing resources due to fragmented, complex, and cumbersome finance processes, along with limited domestic capacity to secure funding for large-scale investments.
Strategic actions for enhancing climate and health financing
To tackle these challenges, the report urges donors, civil society, academia, and policymakers to assist countries in accessing necessary financing through the following actions:
- Increase funding available for climate and health: Scaling funding for climate and health solutions across sectors is both necessary and feasible. Fiscal policy reforms and efforts to reform the global financial architecture can further enhance finance towards shared climate, health, and development goals.
- Align investment priorities and frameworks to maximize impact: Developing a clear, shared understanding of evidence-based high-impact climate and health investments across all sectors will guide funders in allocating more resources to these initiatives and support local decision-making in prioritizing these actions.
- Accelerate delivery and improve access to funding: Funders must streamline and expedite access to finance for proven, high-impact climate and health interventions while countries develop their funding pipelines for more transformative actions. Clear and publicly available investment priorities, investment volumes, key performance indicators, and application processes can also facilitate access.
- Channel funding to country priorities: As country priorities are further defined and updated (e.g., through Nationally Determined Contributions), funders must collaborate and integrate investments to enhance impact and alleviate the burden on countries. Future financing must focus on scaling up grant-based funding that does not exacerbate the debt crisis and hinder the ability of the most affected countries to invest in health, climate, and economic wellbeing.
- Standardize definitions and increase transparency: Funders and normative bodies must converge on a clear definition and employ a consistent methodology for reporting their climate, health, and cross-sectoral finance. Transparent reporting will provide greater visibility into investments and enable donors, countries, and advocates to track financing against needs and close critical gaps.
