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Foreign Aid and Climate Change Policy: What Can(’t) the Data Tell Us?

Author

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  • Daniel Yuichi Kono

    (Department of Political Science, University of California - Davis, USA)

  • Gabriella R. Montinola

    (Department of Political Science, University of California - Davis, USA)

Abstract

Climate-related foreign aid is on the rise, with signatories to the Paris Climate agreement pledging $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 article, 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. Although this suggests that climate aid is ineffective, this conclusion must be qualified due to the poor quality of both climate aid and climate policy data. More definitive conclusions will require more accurate coding of climate aid as well as better climate policy measures that distinguish truly consequential policies from less consequential ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Yuichi Kono & Gabriella R. Montinola, 2019. "Foreign Aid and Climate Change Policy: What Can(’t) the Data Tell Us?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(2), pages 68-92.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v7:y:2019:i:2:p:68-92
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v7i2.1840
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Zexian Chen & Jingjing He, 2013. "Foreign Aid for Climate Change Related Capacity Building," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-046, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Chen, Zexian & He, Jingjing, 2013. "Foreign Aid for Climate Change Related Capacity Building," WIDER Working Paper Series 046, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Tierney, Michael J. & Nielson, Daniel L. & Hawkins, Darren G. & Roberts, J. Timmons & Findley, Michael G. & Powers, Ryan M. & Parks, Bradley & Wilson, Sven E. & Hicks, Robert L., 2011. "More Dollars than Sense: Refining Our Knowledge of Development Finance Using AidData," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 1891-1906.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Thanh Ha, Le, 2025. "Gauging the level of dynamic between climate policy and foreign aid in Vietnam," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).

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