The outgoing head of British International Investment, or BII, has warned development finance institutions not to prioritize climate finance over their “core function” of tackling poverty in the lowest-income countries.
In a farewell interview, Nick O’Donohoe pointed to a potential clash between pressure to hike spending on the green transition — where most investment will be in middle-income countries — and the ongoing need to deliver the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
That tension exists in the United Kingdom’s current development strategy, which requires BII to make 50% of its investments in “the poorest and most fragile countries – while also ensuring BII is “a leading DFI on climate finance.”