Davos: Today, at the 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, Reaching the Last Mile, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Foundation S – the Sanofi Collective released a first-of-its-kind analysis of international finance for climate and health. The white paper, “Resourcing Climate and Health Priorities: A Mapping of International Finance Flows from 2018-2022,” reveals that US$7.1 billion was committed in 2022 to the climate and health nexus, marking a significant increase from less than US$1 billion in 2018. Despite this growth, the funds are not adequately reaching the countries most impacted by climate change, with less than 35% of bilateral donor finance directly channeled to these nations and under 50% of total funding flowing to low-income countries.
According to Emirates News Agency, Reaching the Last Mile is one of the philanthropic global health initiatives led by President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Dr. Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President of Health at The Rockefeller Foundation, emphasized the need for increased commitments from public, private, and philanthropic sectors, ensuring that the funding reaches the most affected communities. The analysis, conducted by SEEK Development with adelphi consult and AfriCatalyst, defines climate and health finance as international concessional funding for projects addressing the direct health impacts of climate change, supporting the health sector’s adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, and generating health co-benefits from climate action.
The report highlights that in 2022, US$4.8 billion came from bilateral donors, US$1.5 billion from two health multilateral funds, US$0.6 billion from four multilateral development banks, US$130 million from philanthropies, and US$23 million from multiple climate multilateral funds. Despite these contributions, there is an increasing trend of health investments incorporating climate considerations, with climate finance directed to the health sector rising from 1% in 2018 to 9% in 2022. However, 24% of the available funding in 2022 was provided as loans rather than grants. Additionally, over 90% of funding from the Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank was loan-based.
Nassar Al Mubarak, CEO of Reaching the Last Mile, sees well-financed climate action as an opportunity to transform countries and economies, promoting health and wellbeing for all. Vanina Laurent-Ledru, Director General of Foundation S, calls for public, private, and philanthropic collaborations to expedite flexible finance directly to local communities, enabling the urgent development of climate-resilient health systems.
The analysis acknowledges limitations in data transparency and clarity, citing challenges in verifying whether commitments constitute new financing or reclassifications of related commitments. Despite these challenges, the report provides a foundational understanding of the funding landscape, aiming to strengthen financing for climate and health.
The report suggests multiple actions to support countries in accessing necessary financing: increasing funding for climate and health, aligning investment priorities to maximize impact, simplifying access to funding, channeling resources to country priorities, and standardizing definitions and transparency in reporting. These actions aim to scale funding solutions, align investments with high-impact interventions, and improve access to finance, ensuring that the most impacted countries can invest in health, climate, and economic wellbeing without exacerbating debt crises.
