Climate Change Finance: If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Manage It

Climate change finance is currently estimated at between approximately USD 70 and 120 billion per year. However, these estimates involve a fair amount of uncertainty. There is no agreed definition of what climate finance includes; moreover, for private sector flows, the range is estimated using mismatched data sources. We need a common definition of what types of flows are to be considered 'climate change finance'. Until such a definition has been agreed, governments and organizations must be more transparent as to what account as 'climate finance'. Governments should work with private investor groups and data providers to adapt existing information so as to provide a more comprehensive dataset on private climate finance.