Poor countries' debt repayments are twice what they get in climate finance

A growing number of climate-vulnerable countries risk “defaulting on their development and climate goals” as debt repayments soar and dwarf the support they receive to address climate change, according to a pair of analyses published this week.

The world’s poorest and most climate-vulnerable countries are collectively spending twice as much paying creditors to service their debts as they receive in climate finance.

That’s the finding of an analysis by the think-tank International Institute for Environment and Development, or IIED, which examined the latest available data from the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development for 58 countries that the United Nations classifies as least developed or small island developing states.