Wealthy countries' climate finance hit record high in 2024, OECD says

BRUSSELS - Developed countries provided a record $136.7 billion to help poorer countries cope with climate change in 2024, the OECD said on Thursday.

• The provision was spent in areas like expanding renewable energy or strengthening defences against extreme weather. It was up 3% from 2023, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a report.

• In 2009, wealthy countries promised to transfer $100 billion a year by 2020 to poorer nations to help them cope with worsening climate-change-fuelled disasters, meeting the target for the first time in 2022.

• Data for 2025 could show a drop after the Trump administration halted contributions to international climate funds.

• Countries agreed at the COP29 summit in 2024 to hike their climate finance provision to $300 billion by 2035.

• Even that would fall short of the trillions of dollars economists have said developing countries need to invest in clean energy fast enough to meet climate goals and protect their societies from extreme weather.

• Developing countries argue they cannot agree to more ambitious deals to limit global warming if the world's economic powers do not deliver on their financial promises.

• Despite being the world's second-biggest economy, China is not counted as a "developed" country at the U.N. so its international climate finance is not included in the data.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 9:11 AM.