Sustainable Development Finance comes in various forms: public and private, loans and equity, domestic and cross-border international finance. Financing sustainable development requires that all nations redirect their public finances and regulate private finance. The international financial architecture must be reformed to enable sustainable finance. The UN has a dedicated process for financing for development (FfD) which led to three major international agreements: the Monterrey Consensus (2002), the Doha Declaration (2008), and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (2015). The UN FfD process is ongoing and culminates in annual FfD Forums at UN headquarters in New York. Other international organizations play important roles for particular forms of finance, such as the IMF and the World Bank for international public lending programs, or the OECD for official development assistance (ODA).
The erosion of public finance in many countries has resulted in the growing inability of governments to provide the necessary public goods and services in support of people’s welfare and care systems, thus failing to respond effectively to the aggravated social and environmental problems. Therefore, there is an urgent need to strengthen and redirect public finance.
In this section, we post information, analyses, documents, and background material related to development finance and financial regulation. This includes the problem of curbing tax evasion and avoidance by transnational corporations, capital flight, money laundering, and illicit financial flows. On this issue, we collaborate closely with our partners in the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, the Civil Society Financing for Development Group and the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad).
The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) will take place in Sevilla, Spain from June 30 to July 3, 2025. FfD4 is expected to catalyse the urgently needed policy change to mobilize the missing funds for sustainable development and climate action. Therefore, it is expected to also set milestones in terms of reforming the international financial architecture.
From a civil society perspective, fundamental reforms of the international financing system are imperative for reaching sustainable development and ending world [...]