French President François Hollande confirmed last week a major reform of the country’s aid program that would boost its annual development budget from 8.5 billion euros ($9.27 billion) to 12.5 billion euros by 2020.
The French Development Agency — or AFD — will be integrated under the Deposits and Consignments Fund, a financial organization under control of the French Parliament. AFD’s yearly development budget will increase by 4 billion euros by 2020, of which half of that increase will be directed towards climate change — raising annual climate financing from 3 billion to 5 billion euros by 2020.
This reform is a direct result of a “redefinition” of sustainable development, which included the creation of a global framework for financing development post-2015 — also known as the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on finance for development, the Sustainable Development Goals, and last month’s Paris Climate Agreement, according to a French government report on the reform released last week.
About the author
Jeff Tyson@jtyson21
Jeff is a former global development reporter for Devex. Based in Washington, D.C., he covers multilateral affairs, U.S. aid, and international development trends. He has worked with human rights organizations in both Senegal and the U.S., and prior to joining Devex worked as a production assistant at National Public Radio. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and French from the University of Rochester.
