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Live from New York: Progress or paralysis at the UN Financing for Development Forum?

04/22/2026

Can the UN Financing for Development Forum in April deliver progress? Join us for a live discussion with participants in New York, offering first-hand insights into the political dynamics, key fault lines, and prospects for implementation.

9 February 2014. El Fasher: World Food Programme (WFP) staff members load bags of split yellow peas into a truck in a WFP warehouse based in El Fasher, North Darfur, to deliver in camps for displaced people (IDP) in Shangil Tobaya, North Darfur.

While Official Development Assistance collapses, work on alternatives is too slow

New findings from recent UN and OECD reports

This month, the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) almost simultaneously released reports on development finance. The OECD’s data on official development assistance (ODA) for 2025 revealed a dramatic 23.1 percent decline in a single year – the largest drop the world has ever seen.

The General Assembly Hall in Advance of General Debate

Global tax rules at a turning point?

Four insights from the fourth round of UN tax convention negotiations

The fourth round of negotiations on a UN framework convention on tax took place in New York from 2 to 13 February 2026. Discussions focused on establishing common international rules to improve the taxation of multinational corporations and extreme wealth, in line with sustainable development and human rights.

UN flag

How the UN funding crisis will worsen in 2026

Only 51 UN member states have paid on time, 142 have not

In late January, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres sent a dramatic letter to UN Member States warning about the “imminent financial collapse” of the United Nations Organization. The letter followed earlier warnings that the UN Secretariat might have to reduce expenditure from the regular budget by 15 percent in 2026. This would mean reducing the workforce by about 2,600 staff.

Our issue areas

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT &
HUMAN RIGHTS

DEVELOPMENT FINANCE &
TAX JUSTICE

UNITED NATIONS &
MULTILATERALISM

CORPORATE INFLUENCE
& ACCOUNTABILITY

Publications

Cover UN negotiations caught between corporate,lobby and the struggle for global justice

UN negotiations caught between corporate lobby and the struggle for global justice

From October 20–24, 2025, 63 states came together at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council to negotiate an international, legally binding instrument to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises (also known as the “UN Treaty”). Since the adoption of Resolution 26/9 by the UN Human Rights Council in 2014, the intergovernmental working group mandated to draft such an agreement already has met eleven times.

The price of money

Governments in the global south pay significantly higher interest rates on loans and bonds than governments in the global north. This financial divide is a key cause of disparities in prosperity and development around the world. The price of money determines the extent to which a state can provide goods and services for its citizens like healthcare and education. It also determines how far necessary transformations, such as climate change adaptation, can be financed from domestic resources.

The issue has gained considerable prominence in development policy discourses in recent years and is also [...]

A right-wing alliance against sustainability?

After two years of negotiations, the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) officially came into force on July 25, 2024. From July 2027, it will require large companies to respect human rights and the en vironment throughout their supply chains and to draw up and implement climate plans in line with the Paris Cli mate Agreement. Although the directive has some gaps, for example with regard to the financial sector, it is an important milestone on the road to a sustainable global economy.

On February 26, 2025, however, the EU Commission proposed the so-called “Omnibus I [...]

Cover of the brieifing paper: The Sevilla Commitment: What comes next?

The Sevilla Commitment: What comes next?

From 30 June to 3 July 2025, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) took place in Sevilla, Spain. According to the United Nations (UN) Member States, the conference was designed to assess progress and obstacles in implementing the decisions of the three previous conferences in Monterrey (2002), Doha (2008) and Addis Ababa (2015), as well as agreeing on measures and initiatives to overcome the obstacles and address new challenges in light of current global crises. The main goal was to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable [...]

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