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Foreign aid and climate change policy: What can('t) the data tell us?

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  • Daniel Y. Kono
  • Gabriella R. Montinola

Abstract

Climate-related foreign aid is on the rise, with signatories to the Paris Climate agreement pledging US$100 billion annually to promote mitigation and adaptation in recipient countries. While this seems like a welcome development, we have little evidence that climate aid actually encourages recipients to adopt climate legislation. In this paper, we examine the relationship between climate aid and recipient climate policy. Using multiple measures of each, we find no evidence that the former is systematically related to the latter.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Y. Kono & Gabriella R. Montinola, 2019. "Foreign aid and climate change policy: What can('t) the data tell us?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2019-15, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
  • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-15
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    Keywords

    Adaptation; Climate change; Climate change mitigation; Environmental policy; Official development assistance;
    All these keywords.

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