WASHINGTON, DC – In 2011, the Busan Partnership agreement recommended a shift toward increased national ownership of the development agenda as part of the international drive for more effective development policies. The agreement was a welcome recognition that lower-income countries were more likely to improve resource allocation and achieve sustainable growth when they set their own development priorities.

But more than a decade later, the prevailing top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to development interventions remains stubbornly intact. This is particularly true for climate finance, which tends to be largely earmarked for projects aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, including in countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis. For example, 58% of the $83.3 billion in climate finance that the Global North delivered to developing countries in 2020 went toward such mitigation initiatives.

In fact, the most pressing challenge facing low-income countries........

© Project Syndicate