The proportion of the global population living in extreme poverty declined after the Sustainable Development Goals were launched, from 10.8% or 787 million people in 2015, to 8.4% or 689 million people in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic was a setback for further progress, and based on the current trajectory, 7.0% of the world population, nearly 575 million people, will still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. In parallel, the impacts of climate change will disproportionately fall on the most vulnerable, and threaten to push an additional 132 million people into extreme poverty.
Development assistance, as a stable and reliable source of financing for developing countries, has a key role to play, in accelerating progress in poverty reduction and development, supporting climate adaptation, and leveraging the green transition to support resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and climate finance for developing countries have reached record levels despite significant pressure on public budgets. Preliminary figures show that total ODA reached USD 223.7 billion in 2023, setting a record for the fourth consecutive year. Climate finance from official bilateral and multilateral sources reached USD 115.9 billion in 2022, surpassing the USD 100 billion pledge for the first time.
The OECD Development Co-operation Report 2024 provides recommendations for targeted policy actions to optimise the contributions of this financing for sustainable development:
Boosting the effectiveness of available financing by better integrating poverty reduction and climate in programme design and evaluation;
Building capacity in developing countries’ tax systems to enhance domestic resource mobilisation;
Expanding skills development opportunities for women to increase their participation in labour markets and their ability to participate in and benefit from the green transformation; and,
Fostering inclusive labour markets and decent work conditions by supporting labour formalisation and collective bargaining rights.
The OECD is uniquely positioned to help align development policy’s support for poverty reduction and climate action by drawing on expertise from across the organisation. Our ability to collect and analyse data, promote inclusive dialogue, and develop best practices and standards, can assist development partners to identify, implement and monitor policy innovations aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of development cooperation.
At the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in 2023, countries committed to ensuring that no country should have to choose between addressing climate change and addressing poverty reduction or other development challenges. The Paris Pact for People and Planet – 4P – Secretariat, hosted by the OECD, is one example of mobilising the OECD’s full range of expertise to support countries in translating commitments into action to advance climate action and sustainable development.
The OECD Development Co-operation Report 2024 underscores this integrated approach, providing actionable recommendations where development co-operation policy can make a significant impact for a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable future.
Mathias Cormann,
OECD Secretary-General