During COP30 in Brazil, the Government of the Netherlands has reinstated its support for the Sevilla Platform for Action (SPA), “Joint Declaration on Partnership Opportunities between Institutional Investors and Multilateral Development Banks”published this past June in Seville during the 4th International Conference for Financing for Development (FFD4), and endorsed by the Governments of Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The SPA is a strategic proposal aimed at unlocking institutional capital for sustainable development and climate action in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), where institutional investors currently account for as little as 1% of total private climate finance flows.
This renewed support for the SPA was launched at a High-level event on Adaptation with Presidents and Vice-Presidents of MDBs & Climate Investment Funds, and presented by Steven Collet, Vice Minister for International Cooperation for the Netherlands. It reflects a shared recognition that the current pace and scale of financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Goals is still insufficient. Despite ambitious agendas during the past decade, we are not on track to secure the USD 2.4 trillion per year of climate investments needed in EMDEs by 2030, including USD 1 trillion in external finance.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, a milestone highlighting both progress and ongoing challenges. In 2015, global CO₂ emissions were still increasing by nearly 2% annually, and the planet was on course for roughly 4°C of warming by 2100. Since then, emission growth has slowed to 0.3% per year, while projections of long-term warming have moderated to around 2.6°C. At the same time, renewable energy has surpassed coal as the world’s largest electricity source, signalling a clear shift in the global energy transition.
Despite these achievements, the task of mobilising sufficient climate finance remains daunting. Global initiatives like the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) aim to direct $300 billion annually to developing countries by 2035, yet, even if fully realised, a $700 billion annual financing gap would persist. This highlights that public funding alone cannot meet the scale of investment required, particularly amid declining ODA and shifting priorities. Mobilising private capital is now essential to accelerate climate action and ensure that the progress of the past decade is expanded, not stalled.
The SPA sets a clear ambition to create scalable, investable structures that meet the needs of long-term investors and calls for deeper collaboration between Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), and institutional investors, pension funds in particular, while emphasising the importance of standardisation, transparency, and efficiency in how development finance is structured and delivered. The continued support for the SPA also signals a growing consensus: institutional investors must be part of the solution, and MDBs and DFIs must be at the centre of this change.
This aligns directly with ILX’s goal: mobilising institutional capital for impactful investments in EMDEs. By partnering with MDBs and DFIs, our pension fund investors benefit from these institutions’ experience and resources, which allows them to make impactful investments in countries that need it the most without sacrificing returns.
The introduction of the SPA during COP30 is necessary – It offers a practical solution to bridge the financing gap while advancing the implementation agenda of COP30. ILX is ready to continue working with our pension funds and MDBs and DFIs partners to make this solution a reality.