The Global South’s Approach to Managing the Relationship Between Climate and Development
Cape Town — The torrent of crises over the past five years, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with destructive U.S. tariff policies, has put unprecedented pressure on the post-war global order. Now, multilateral institutions, including the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, are struggling to effectively respond to an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape, where international cooperation is being steadily replaced by great power policies.
In the midst of this economic fragmentation and political chaos, the Global South and philanthropic organizations must adopt a pragmatic approach to protect development gains and strive for resilience in the face of climate change. This means building issue-based alliances, strengthening local institutions, and maximizing opportunities for leadership on the global stage, such as South Africa’s presidency of the G20 and India’s upcoming chairmanship of BRICS+ in 2026.
Perhaps the most significant opportunity is Brazil’s hosting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) this year, expected to focus on fulfilling previous commitments and enhancing outcomes. Equally important are the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that all signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement must submit, ideally within the next month. According to the 2024 Emissions Gap Report from the United Nations Environment Programme, we need more ambitious national contributions aligned with the agreement’s goal to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. More ambitious NDCs will, in turn, require greater international cooperation and reform of the global financial architecture.
Action is now imperative. Despite the declining costs of renewable energy, fossil fuel consumption continues to rise. Consequently, the pace of climate change and biodiversity loss has accelerated. Efforts to close the climate finance gap have been inadequate. The new collective quantitative goal for climate finance agreed upon at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is woefully insufficient, and the situation appears to be deteriorating, with the U.S. retreating inward and other developed countries eager to significantly increase defense spending.
Similarly, progress toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has faltered, impacted by a persistent annual financing gap of $4 trillion. While some progress has been real and tangible, it remains fragile and uneven. With certain official development assistance flows diminishing and global debt reaching unprecedented levels, developing innovative ways to mobilize both domestic and foreign capital has become an urgent priority. Keeping this goal in mind, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development recently established a globally oriented financing framework committed to a rules-based multilateral trading system. The conference also launched a Borrowers’ Forum, a platform enabling heavily indebted countries to negotiate collectively.
Countries in the Global South are learning not to pin their hopes on empty promises from the wealthy world. As a result, they are shifting their focus toward implementation. Brazil has launched a work agenda for COP30, while South Africa’s presidency of the G20 highlights the relationship between climate, development, and debt. In the face of unsustainable debt levels and high borrowing costs, governments in the Global South—particularly in Africa—must work to enhance financial resilience to increase long-term investments in climate action and quickly respond to climate-related shocks. This in no way absolves developed countries of their financial obligations under Article 9 of the Paris Agreement, but it does represent a practical necessity for Southern countries that do not want their climate and developmental priorities to become hostages to great power politics.
In such an environment, philanthropic organizations must reevaluate their role in assisting national and regional actors in achieving development goals and climate action. This means addressing funding gaps in low- and middle-income countries, as well as the transition risks all countries face while tackling existing priorities such as inflation, unemployment, and social unrest, implicitly indicating the need to expand social protection for the most vulnerable and exposed groups.
However, instead of adopting an “implement everything everywhere at once” approach, philanthropic institutions should focus more on expanding their reach to beneficiaries, while also improving coordination among themselves. This is especially applicable in Africa, where only a few large philanthropic organizations operate.
Partnerships for a just energy transition in South Africa, Vietnam, and Indonesia have demonstrated that philanthropic organizations can play a valuable role in establishing government-led national platforms to coordinate public and private sector financing for development and climate action goals. Philanthropic organizations can provide early-stage funding, support capacity building, and engage other stakeholders, including community organizations and small to medium-sized enterprises.
Another priority should be positioning climate action within the context of development. In Africa, this means helping countries reduce their accumulated debts, enhance financial resilience, and develop credible investment plans to facilitate climate action. All of this must build economic momentum against business cycles, essential for achieving sustainable growth. However, this necessitates that philanthropic institutions begin to engage in multilateral processes, leveraging their flexibility, risk tolerance, and trust-building capacity to advance the interests of the Global South by strengthening institutional and human capacities.
To achieve tangible results on the ground in countries vulnerable to climate change effects facing concurrent global crises, philanthropic institutions must collaborate with governments, grassroots organizations, and development banks, focusing on supporting systemic change as much as on providing relief. This requires continuing to focus on strategic goals linked to climate and development while being prepared to manage trade-offs.
The era of new great power politics will eventually pass. But governments in the Global South and their philanthropic organizations do not have the luxury of waiting until then. Instead, they must take concrete steps toward ensuring sustainable growth and strengthening international partnerships. The only way to emerge from this era of chaos is to confront it head-on and without ambiguity.
