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The year ahead: What’s next for financing for development and international financial architecture reform in 2026?

By Bodo Ellmers

The past two years have felt like a marathon of summits. In particular, the United Nations (UN) Summit of the Future in September 2024 and the International Conference on Financing for Development in Sevilla in July 2025 placed international financial architecture reform firmly at the top of the global agenda.

Johannesburg Skyline

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Warren Pitallo / Flickr Creative Commons 2014

Solidarity, equality and sustainability?

A reality check on the G20 after South Africa’s Presidency

The G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg in late November offered a once-in-20-years opportunity to promote a specific African agenda through the G20. The South African government set high expectations when it chose the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” for its presidency.

Nairobi city

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Ninara31/2016 (Flickr Creative Commons)

Tax capacity building for the Global North?

Three takeaways from the third round of negotiations on the UN tax convention in Nairobi

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 negotiations built on the progress made in the previous round of negotiations in December 2024 and are a key component in closing existing [...]

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 negotiations built on the progress made in the previous round of negotiations in December 2024 and are a key component in closing existing [...]

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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