Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment

A framework and guide on Strengthening the Role of Ministries of Finance in Driving Climate Action, plus an abridged synthesis report, were published in summer 2023. Read it here.

The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action and the Grantham Research Institute

The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action was launched in 2019 by governments from 26 countries. Its work is organised around the six Helsinki Principles, which promote national climate action, especially through fiscal policy and the use of public finance. Mirroring the growing recognition of the pivotal role finance ministers play in addressing climate change, the number of member countries has since more than tripled to 79.

The Grantham Research Institute has been working with the Coalition on a practical framework for Ministries of Finance, along with economic recovery from COVID-19 and Helsinki Principle 2.

A Ministry of Finance framework for climate action

At a meeting of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action at COP27, the Institute’s Chair Nicholas Stern and the Coalition co-chairs officially launched a global consultation to obtain feedback on the development of a flagship report and guide: Strengthening the Role of Ministries of Finance in Driving Climate Action. The guide sets out a practical framework for Ministries of Finance to galvanise action and drive investment in the zero-carbon, climate-resilient future by mainstreaming climate action into their core functions and capabilities.

With drafting led by the Grantham Research Institute, the guide is a collaborative effort that has involved nearly 30 Ministries of Finance and more than 30 experts and partners of the Coalition. It received 40 submissions from the private and non-governmental sectors to a global public consultation on an early draft.

The guide is complemented by a high-level summary brief (also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Bahasa Indonesia and Spanish) and an abridged synthesis report.

The Grantham Research Institute’s work with the Coalition on recovery from COVID-19 and on Helsinki Principle 2

Nicholas Stern, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute, and Amar Bhattacharya, Visiting Professor in Practice at the Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Sustainable Development, were appointed as advisers to the Co-Chairs of the Coalition in 2019.

The Grantham Research Institute and the Brookings Institution are founding institutional partners supporting the work of the Coalition and have made contributions across a range of its workstreams. In particular, they have led the preparation of two reports on how members of the Coalition have been advancing climate action through economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The institutions have also been heavily engaged in the workstream on Helsinki Principle 2, including through assessing the availability of relevant training and advice for members of the Coalition, and improving the collaboration between Ministries and academia and the wider research community to enhance evidence-based policymaking.