Shifting the tide? Key outcomes and debates from The Fourth Financing for Development Conference

FfD4 at a crossroad: Why global finance needs a reset

FfD4 conferences are a UN-led process with the goal to develop solutions addressing global financing gaps and mobilising resources for sustainable development. The gathering in Seville from June 30 to July 3, 2025 was the 4^th of its kind, following up on FfD4 in Addis Ababa in 2015, and drew over 15,000 participants, including heads of state, ministers, civil society, and private sector leaders, to discuss some of the most pressing issues in financing development.

It convened at a critical juncture, with just five years left to achieve the SDGs and a global financing gap exceeding US$4.3 trillion. In a world facing rising debt crises, intensifying climate emergencies, and growing geopolitical fragmentation, FfD4 was described as “a once-in-a-decade opportunity to shift the tide” in global financing for development. Ahead of the conference, many stakeholders called for a revitalization of international discussions and for concrete actions to be agreed that will bring systemic reforms.

This Donor Tracker publication provides an overview of key themes, discussions, and outcomes of the FfD4 conference that caught the Donor Tracker Team’s eye. The publication is part of our broader series on the Donor Tracker on innovative development finance, which aims to support development actors in engaging more with innovative finance solutions.

Debates, decisions, and the Sevilla Commitment

The main outcome of FfD4 was the adoption of the “Sevilla Commitment” (Compromiso de Sevilla) document. It builds on the Addis Adaba Action Agenda, which was agreed 10 years ago, putting greater focus on implementation, system reform, and urgency as it is responding to new, more urgent global challenges. The Sevilla Commitment aims to close the US$4 trillion SDG financing gap by proposing reforms to the international financial and development cooperation system, tackling the debt crisis, catalyzing more private investment, and enabling more domestic resource mobilization. To promote implementation of the commitments set out in the Sevilla Commitment, for the first time in the FfD process, heads of state and global leaders launched the Sevilla Platform for Action (SPA), which brings together more than 130 initiatives led by international organizations, governments, and international financial institutions.

Over the four days of FfD4, heads of state and representatives from multilateral organizations participated in official plenary meetings and multi-stakeholders roundtables focusing on key themes such as shaping a development-oriented sovereign debt architecture and mobilizing and aligning domestic public resources. In addition, the conference saw multiple side-events hosted by think thanks, CSOs, and international organizations, to discuss critical topics, such as moving beyond traditional development cooperation models to more value-driven partnerships and nationally led approaches. For the first time this year, major business organizations and financial institutions came together separately at the International Business Forum, held alongside FfD4, to discuss private sector leadership in scaling finance for sustainable development.

Many welcomed the conference’s ability to demonstrate that multilateral action and reaching consensus is possible even in a fragmented geopolitical environment. Especially the conference's focus on implementation has been praised for driving concrete progress towards closing the SDG financing gap. However, critics argue that the outcome was shaped by compromise and falls short on ambition, with the withdrawal of the US further weakening its potential impact. There are concerns that the outcome is being diluted under pressure from wealthier countries, especially regarding debt and climate action, and that the document continues to rely heavily on private finance as a solution, without addressing deeper systemic issues or providing robust commitments on financial market regulation.

Spotlight on solutions

Below, we spotlight three key topics of discussion during FfD4 that stood out to the Donor Tracker Team:

• Debt and domestic resources;
• Blended finance; and
• Effective partnerships.

Ensuring debt sustainability and mobilizing domestic public resources

At the multi-stakeholder roundtable on the first day FfD4, “Mobilizing and Aligning Domestic Public Resources,” participants discussed the significant challenges many:abbr LMICs face in raising domestic revenues and managing their fiscal systems. A major focus was the rising debt burden, with more than half of low-income countries experiencing debt distress. The roundtable was informed by a group of experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General at the end of 2024, who presented actionable solutions to the debt crisis.

Key outcomes included the launch of the Global Hub for Debt Swaps for Development, which offers technical and financial support to countries considering swapping debt for food security or climate change adaptation, and the establishment of the Sevilla Borrower’s Forum, a platform for LMIC borrowers to align negotiation efforts and share expertise. The Sevilla Commitment further highlighted actions to enhance the use of domestic resources for sustainable development and climate action, including efficient tax collection, transparent spending, improved international tax systems, combating illicit flows, and leveraging national public development banks. As concrete action to raising additional public revenue, France, Kenya, and Barbados launched a new aviation solidarity coalition on premium flyers.

Reimagining blended and innovative finance for effective private capital mobilization

In the lead-up to there was broad agreement that blended finance has not yet achieved the scale of private investment needed for sustainable development. Still, participants recognized blended finance as a promising tool to attract private capital, provided there is innovative, fair, and balanced risk-sharing between public and private sectors, as emphasized by the day FfD4 Business Steering Committee.

Key outcomes from Sevilla included a shift in narrative from instrument-specific approaches to broader blended structures that focus on impact, transparency, scalability, and additionality. This included the creation of catalytic capital pools and stronger risk-sharing mechanisms to ensure public funds deliver real results instead of merely subsidizing private interests. A concrete commitment was made by a coalition of governments (Finland, Norway, and Switzerland), international organizations, and private sector actors to develop an Action Plan by the end of 2027. This plan aims to increase private investment in LMICs using standardized, replicable blended finance models tailored to each country’s context.

Read the Donor Tracker publication introducing innovative financing to learn more about how the development sector can leverage new financial tools to increase their impact and reach SDGs.

Supporting effective development cooperation

With ODA by the 17 largest DAC donors expected to fall by a total of US$46 billion between 2024 and 2026, it is evident that “we are basically at the brink of a new paradigm”, as the Chair of the OECD DAC, has put it. The Sevilla Commitment reaffirmed that while ODA remains vital for achieving the SDGs, it must be utilized more effectively—by strengthening the capacity of LMICs, catalyzing additional sources of finance, and better aligning with country-specific needs. Key outcomes included a renewed focus on maximizing the impact, transparency, and mutual accountability of ODA. During the side event “Using evidence and dialogue to drive action: towards a ‘2030 pact for effective development co-operation’”, hosted by the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, SIDA’s Assistant Director General remarked that “development effectiveness is an essential pathway to drive sustainable development – it is not an add on”. The ‘2030 pact’, launched at the side event aims to deliver on increased effectiveness by resetting how countries work together and better aligning efforts behind country and local priorities. With availability of data and evidence being a key prerequisite to improve effectiveness, the OECD, IATI, and the UN CEB Secretariat also launched an initiative for ‘Bridging Data Systems for Financing for Development’ that aims to enhance interoperability between international reporting systems and contribute to more coherent data ecosystems.

Progress on these commitments will be reviewed regularly at the annual UN ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up, as well as through independent monitoring by civil society organizations and think thanks, notably, the 4P (People, Planet, Prosperity, and Partnerships) initiative.

Next step: Turning promises into progress

The strong collective will to “shift the tide” towards greater delivery and accountability created during the conference, and the focus on implementation and concrete actions, especially through the Sevilla Action Platform, have been considered a success. While the absence of the United States from the process remains a concerns, FfD4 has proven that a "coalition of the willing" exists and is capable of driving progress.

Ultimately, while has FfD4 set a renewed framework for financing sustainable development, the real test will be in implementation – “Sevilla is about what we do next”, as highlighted by the Development Cooperation Director of the OECD. Sustained political will, transparent reporting, and inclusive monitoring will be essential to ensure that the promises made in Seville translate into meaningful progress for people and planet.

To learn more about emerging topics in innovative financing linked to the FfD4, such as the evolving role of innovative approaches within ODA and the growing focus on private resource mobilization, follow along the Donor Tracker’s series on innovative financing over the course of the upcoming months.