Policy Context


In 2022, Ireland published its International Climate Finance Roadmap. Ireland’s principles within climate include:

  • Leave no one behind and contribute to sustainable development for the most climate vulnerable people, communities, and countries;
  • Locally-led climate action;
  • Climate justice and just transition;
  • Gender-sensitive climate action; and
  • Transparency and good governance.

Beyond these guiding principles, Ireland also has several key priorities:

  • Preference for grant-based climate finance, especially for LDCs, SIDS and fragile states;
  • Engagement with multilateral partners, including the EU, UN, MDBs and multilateral funds;
  • Climate-proofing Ireland’s ;abbrODA, and focusing on better integrating climate action and resilience across all channels of development finance; and
  • Exploring opportunities to engage the private sector in climate action, with a focus on value addition of the private sector in the areas of climate resilience and adaptation.

The roadmap does not provide a specific target for adaptation, and instead aims for a ‘proportion of funding for adaptation’.


ODA Spending


How much ODA does Ireland allocate to climate projects?


In 2021, Ireland allocated a total of US$99 million to climate funding, including funding for projects with climate as a principal objective and for projects with significant climate change components. This represented 19% of Ireland's bilateral allocable ODA in 2021, lower than the DAC average of 24%. In 2021, Ireland ranked 21st among DAC donors for its total climate funding and 18th for its climate funding as a percentage of bilateral ODA.




Ireland’s climate-related ODA, both principal and significant, has fluctuated between 2017 and 2021. In 2019, Ireland’s principal climate funding reached US$48 million. However, principal climate funding dropped yearly between 2019 and 2021 to US$35 million in 2021. Meanwhile, significant funding overall increased from US$56 million in 2017 to US$64 million in 2021.



In 2021, Ireland spent US$96 million on climate adaptation, of which US$50 million was cross-cutting projects related to both adaptation and mitigation.



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Ireland/Climate

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