Finance Ministers hold the keys to unlocking climate action.

The Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action brings together fiscal and economic policymakers from over 100 countries in leading the global climate response and in securing a just transition towards low-carbon resilient development.

Finance Ministers know most clearly the economic consequences of climate change: both the risks posed by its mounting impacts on their economies and, increasingly, the opportunities of climate action that could unlock $26 trillion in global investments and create 65 million more jobs by 2030. They can also play a leading role by incentivizing climate-informed public expenditure and utilizing climate fiscal tools, such as carbon taxes and emissions trading systems, to cut emissions and prioritize low-carbon growth. 

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Background

At the 2018 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Bali, Indonesia, governments from 39 countries came together to boost their collective engagement on climate action. The group recognized the challenges posed by climate change, the unique capacity of the world's finance ministers to address them, and ways to strengthen these efforts. Several governments expressed strong support for the development of a Coalition of Finance Ministers to promote cohesion between domestic and global action on climate change, raise ambition, reaffirm commitments, and accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement.

In December 2018, the Finance Ministers of Chile and Finland, supported by a Secretariat hosted by the World Bank and the IMF, agreed to co-lead the Coalition and invited other governments to meet in Helsinki and discuss its structure, focus, and goals for the coming two years. The inaugural Sherpas meeting was hosted in Helsinki in February 2019, bringing together representatives from 19 countries and seven international institutions.

On April 13, 2019, governments from 26 countries joined forces to launch the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, recognizing the challenges posed by climate change, the unique capacity of the world's finance ministers to address them, and ways to strengthen these efforts through collective engagement.

Since its launch, finance ministers from over 100 countries have signed on to the 'Helsinki Principles', a set of six principles that promote national climate action, particularly through fiscal policy and public finance. The Helsinki Principles are designed to be aspirational; they are non-binding and are not listed in any order of priority.

 

The Helsinki Principles

Helsinki Principles

 

View The Helsinki Principles

The Coalition will help countries mobilize and align the finance needed to implement their national climate action plans; establish best practices, such as climate budgeting and green investment and procurement strategies; and factor climate risks and vulnerabilities into members’ economic planning.

In December 2019, at COP 25 in Madrid, Spain, the Coalition officially launched the Santiago Action Plan, a vision document outlining the initiative’s strategy for making collective progress on the Helsinki Principles in 2020 and beyond. It reflects Members’ active engagement in working towards the common goals of mainstreaming climate change and lays out in detail the priority work areas and deliverables under the Helsinki Principles.

The Coalition is currently chaired by the Finance Ministers of the Netherlands and Uganda, with a secretariat managed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

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Key Documents