IIED at 5th Finance in Common Summit
IIED researchers and partners will be attending the 5th Finance in Common Summit from 26-28 February 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Panoramic view of Cape Town, South Africa (Photo: Sharaan Muruvan via Unsplash)
At the 5th Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), IIED will work with partners to push for bold reforms to make the international financial system more just, inclusive and effective. We will be calling for more finance to reach where it really matters, an end to unfair debt burdens, locally-led action and country platforms that truly reflect national priorities.
We will be bringing evidence-based research and practical, sustainable solutions, led by local perspectives to FiCS, to help deliver outcomes that will serve the people and places most affected by climate change and inequality.
What is the Finance in Common Summit?
Finance in Common, a global network of all public development banks (PDBs), aims to align financial flows with the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
FiCS is an annual meeting that brings together global leaders, PDBs, the private sector, academics and philanthropies to align global finance with sustainable development goals. The 2025 summit will focus on the theme ‘fostering infrastructure and finance for just and sustainable growth’.
Improving the impact of debt swaps
Ahead of the summit, IIED published an issue paper exploring how the Principles of Effective Development Cooperation could be usefully applied to debt for climate and nature swaps. The principles have been developed to improve aid quality and impact, as well as to combat criticism that debt swaps to date have had relatively limited impact, with parallel processes undermining development effectiveness.
A robust commitment to implementing effectiveness principles could help deliver better climate, nature and development outcomes by focusing on broader, longer-term goals and impacts within national socioeconomic development.
Reforming the international financial architecture
High on the agenda of the 5th Finance in Common Summit and other international summits and meetings taking place this year is reform of the international financial architecture (IFA) – the global system that includes the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.
IIED is calling for a reform to the IFA. A recent podcast episode saw guests explain why the IFA needs to be fit for purpose and work for everyone, including the least developed countries (LDCs), and why discussions around IFA reforms must include the voices of lower-income countries, LDCs and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
IIED’s chief economist Paul Steele also outlines three priorities for reform of the IFA:
- The need to ensure funding is combined with nature and climate finance
- The need to ensure LDCs contribute meaningfully to discussions, and
- The need to focus on the quality, not just quantity, of funding so that money gets to where it matters.
Money, politics and power – reforming the international financial architecture: Make Change Happen episode 28
Related reading
- Blog: Addressing the climate finance gap through locally led country platform approach, Ritu Bharadwaj and Tumasie Blair (February 2025)
- Global Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Debt Sustainability Support Service: a new financial compact for resilient prosperity, Ritu Bharadwaj (2024), report
- Insight: Finance for nature and climate: shared learning on common challenges, Nicola Sorsby and Pia Treichel, (October 2024)
- Insight: How to fix funding bottlenecks and pave the way for locally led adaptation, May Thazin Aung and Sousan Suha (September 2024)
Contact
Anne Schulthess ([email protected]), marketing manager, IIED's Communications Group
