An analysis of the RioMarkers database by Our World in Data finds that nearly one-fifth of the roughly $210 billion in bilateral development aid in 2024 was classified as climate-related.
What share of global development aid goes to climate-related projects? The answer is that it depends on how you count. In 2024, 34% of bilateral project aid carried a climate tag, but more than half of that funding went to projects where climate was only a secondary objective.
The most absurd case is a South Korean-funded hospital in Tanzania: because it was built with energy-efficient design, all $163 million of it was counted as climate aid. The hospital itself has little to do with climate.
What surprised me most is the author's admission: 'My guess is that both are happening' — crowding out and relabeling — but the data can't say how much of each. A paper that admits what it can't measure is more convincing than one with a confident conclusion.
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