During Australia's National Statement at COP26 on 1 November, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the doubling of Australia's previous AUD 1 billion pledge over 2015-2020 to AUD 2 billion over 2020-2025. This was AUD 500 million more than his earlier 2020-2025 climate finance commitment of AUD 1.5 billion made in December 2020. This commitment will be implemented through Australia's development programme.

Support to environmental objectives has been anchored as a key dimension of the Austrian Development Co‑operation at the highest level through the Austrian Act on Development Co-operation (2003). The act defines “preserving the environment and protecting natural resources that form the basis for sustainable development” as one of the three overall objectives of the Austrian Development Co-operation.  

The integration of environment and climate objectives is enshrined in the Belgian Law on Development Co-operation. Environment and climate are identified in this law as crosscutting issues that must be incorporated throughout all development co-operation.

As articulated in the Speech from the Throne 2020 and Canada’s Federal Budget 2021, promoting a cleaner environment, climate action and a green economy is a core priority for Canada. This is also reflected in Canada’s commitments to combat climate change and biodiversity loss around the world.

As highlighted in the Czech Republic’s Development Co-operation Strategy 2018-30, climate and environment are crosscutting priorities of the Czech development co-operation programme. The do no harm” principle is systematically applied and assessed across all programmes and projects. New methodology for mainstreaming crosscutting priorities is being prepared; it will include clear targets and indicators to be followed throughout the project cycle.

Denmark has just adopted a new development strategy, which has the following vision for Danish development co-operation: “A more secure and sustainable world free from poverty, based on international binding co-operation as well as just and resilient societies that fight inequality and create hope and future opportunities for the individual, with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement as beacons.”

The European Commission is firmly committed to the integration of environment and climate change in its development co-operation and international partnerships policy. This commitment is found at the highest level and stems from the EU Treaty (see Art. 11 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) that specifies that “Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union's policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development.”

Development policy is an integral part of Finland's human rights-based and value-based foreign and security policy. International co-operation and Finland’s actions are grounded in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Climate change and natural resources are one of the four priorities of Finnish development policy.

France attaches great importance to climate and environmental issues through its development aid policy. Climate is one of the five sectoral priorities enshrined in the Programming Law on Solidarity Development and the Fight Against Global Inequalities, which was adopted by the French Parliament in July 2021.

Germany is making a major contribution to the global implementation of the Paris Agreement by channelling a substantial part of its official development assistance (ODA) to climate purposes. Consequently, Germany is among the largest donors in the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in the fields of environmental protection, forestry and energy, and uses its contributions to promote environmental sustainability and climate and nature protection in its partner countries. The high priority that Germany places on international climate finance is also demonstrated by announcements at the highest political level: Chancellor Angela Merkel initially committed to doubling climate finance from budgetary resources from EUR 2 billion to EUR 4 billion in 2020 at the Petersburg Dialogue and announced an increase of climate finance post-2020 to EUR 6 billion per year by 2025 at the latest at the G7 Leaders Meeting in 2021.

Greece has an ambitious climate policy that aims for a zero-carbon society by 2050, in line with the targets set by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement and the EU Green Deal. 

As a member state of the European Union and a Party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Hungary’s national legislation is guided by the climate policy-related requirements of the European Union and the commitments under the UNFCCC. Hungary ensures that climate protection measures are in line with the Paris Agreement at the domestic level, as well as with the EU climate policy framework, facilitating their implementation. 

Iceland, in co-operation with the other Nordic countries and other partners, has been at the front of the Build Back Better and Greener post-COVID-19 movement. Iceland’s commitment to aligning development policies and programmes with international climate and environment objectives is reflected in joint Nordic declarations and op-eds on the issue, including at the United Nations (UN), the World Bank and the OECD. This is also reflected in interventions and statements by the Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs and Development Co-operation over the last one and a half year. 

For Ireland, development and climate objectives are already strongly interwoven, as illustrated in its national policy for international development, A Better World. Ireland continues to work to improve this alignment.  

The Italian Law No. 125/2014 on international development co-operation provides in Art. 1 that one of the fundamental objectives pursued by Italy’s development co-operation is the promotion of sustainable development, in compliance with the international programmes and strategies defined by international organisations and by the European Union. This principle is reflected in the three-year Programming and Policy Planning Document (PPPD) (2019-21) and policy guidance, whereby Italian Development Co‑operation action is committed to helping reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making “Planet” one of its pillars and focussing on populations at risk of being left behind. The PPPD is currently under review and the 2021-23 edition will prioritise the alignment of post-COVID-19 development action with environmental and climate objectives.

Japan’s recent political commitments and efforts on environmental and climate change are as follows.  

President Moon Jae-in pledged at the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Seoul Summit on 30 May 2021 that Korea will play an active role in the international community’s efforts to overcome the climate crisis and promote an inclusive green recovery toward sustainable development. President Moon announced that the Korean government will contribute an additional USD 4 million in grants for the P4G initiative to support green growth projects in developing countries.

Luxembourg's objectives of reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to the 2005 level and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, as set in its Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), were included in the amended Climate Law of 15 December 2020.

Following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Dutch government has stressed in its statements in the Development Committee the importance of steering multilateral development finance sharply towards green and inclusive recovery and published this request with like-minded partners in The Guardian. In multilateral development banks, the Dutch government calls for climate leadership, full Paris alignment by 2030 and phasing out fossil fuel finance.

New Zealand’s International Co-operation for Effective Sustainable Development Policy Statement, published by the Government in November 2019, makes the following commitments with regard to climate change and the environment:

Norway is part of the High Ambition Coalition, the Global Ocean Alliance and the Leaders Pledge for Nature.

Polish development aid is strongly linked with the 2030 Sustainable Agenda. The Polish Multi-annual Development Co-operation Programme 2021-2030, in the context of climate, is based on several international frameworks and agreements, such as the:

Portugal’s development co-operation activities and objectives are based on the respect of environment and climate action international principles, objectives and approaches to which the country has committed. Portugal has been co-ordinating approaches to implementing and achieving international climate and environment goals in various regional and international fora, not least with regard to the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Portugal is eager to enhance this co‑ordination concerning the alignment of development co-operation approaches with international agreements on environment protection and climate action.

The Slovak Republic reports that there is no quantitative target for the size of the official development assistance (ODA) portfolio addressing climate and the environment, the reason being that such focus has consistently not been allowed for by long-term comparative advantages of the Slovak Republic, which are found in other sectors.

In 2017, the National Assembly of the Slovenia adopted a Resolution on Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance of the Republic of Slovenia (2017 Resolution), a long-term strategic document, which defines two general thematic priorities for development co-operation and humanitarian aid, one of them being the “fight against climate change, focused on the sustainable management of natural and energy resources”.

The Spanish Climate Change and Energy Transition Law, recently approved by the Parliament, mandates the adoption of an International Climate Finance Strategy with several objectives, among others, to:

Sweden’s commitment to aligning development co-operation with international climate and environment commitments is shown in the vast amount of international agreements and pledges to which it has committed. Some of them include the High Ambition Coalition and the Leaders Pledge for Nature. In addition, The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDS)’s Instruction by the Swedish government explicitly spells out that environment and climate change should permeate all Swedish development co-operation. 

A specific target has been set at the level of funding for Objective B of the Swiss International Co‑operation Strategy 2021-2024. Switzerland’s international co-operation funding in this field is set to increase gradually from CHF 300 million per year in 2017-20 to CHF 400 million per year by the end of 2024. This will be equivalent to around 15% of the total international co-operation resources.   

The UK government has stated that tackling climate change and biodiversity loss is its top priority in the Integrated Review for Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (Integrated Review), aligning official development assistance (ODA) spend with the Paris Agreement. In the Government Response to The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review, the UK government committed to ensuring that all new UK bilateral aid spending does no harm to nature. This is a step towards delivering on the UK commitment in the Integrated Review to investing in nature and a nature-positive economy. The United Kingdom also reiterated this commitment through the G7 2030 Nature Compact, where alongside other G7 countries, they are committed to working to ensure that their international development assistance does no harm to nature, and delivers positive outcomes overall for people, climate and nature.  

The United States joined other G7 members in statements on climate, environment and biodiversity in the 2021 Carbis Bay Summit Communiqué.