The 39 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) together bear little responsibility for climate change: in 2012, all the SIDS combined accounted for just 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions.

Despite this, the SIDS’ geographical, socioeconomic and climate profiles make them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. For example, Tuvalu and the Maldives do not reach higher than 5 metres above sea level, making them highly susceptible to flooding. 

This briefing explores the amount of climate finance the SIDS have been granted thus far, and to what extent this support meets the SIDS’ needs. Key findings for this briefing include:

• Between 2003 and 2016, the SIDS received $1085 million from dedicated climate funds, representing less than 7% of global climate finance
• Scaling up both climate adaptation and mitigation finance to the SIDS is vital – both to address the vulnerability of SIDS inhabitants by making agriculture, biodiversity and infrastructure sectors more resilient to climate impacts and to shift energy mixes away from fossil fuels.