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Development Finance at a turning point

Confronted with significant financing gaps for implementing the 2030 Agenda and the multiple crises of our time - climate crisis, debt crisis and increasing geopolitical tensions - development finance finds itself entangled in a nexus of formidable challenges.  Within this intricate landscape, the IDOS finance team is engaged in research and policy advice on how resilient and sustainable national and international financial systems should be designed in such a way that they support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and successfully addresses existing and emerging crises. For this purpose, the team closely follows relevant international processes, such as the World Bank reform process, the Bridgetown Initiative, the New Global Financial Pact, the Hamburg Sustainability Conference (2024-2026), and the Financing for Development (FfD) Conference (2025). The current research and advisory priorities of IDOS in this context include:
 

  • Addressing the Debt Crisis
  • Reform options for international financial institutions
  • Shaping the global Sustainable Finance Architecture
  • Reforms of the Global Financial Safety Net
  • Private sector mobilization
  • Financial sector development

Team

Kathrin Berensmann
Clara Brandi
Sören Hilbrich
Christoph Sommer
Ulrich Volz
Yabibal Walle

Publications

Financing the United Nations: status quo, challenges and reform options
Baumann, Max-Otto / Haug, Sebastian (2024)

New York: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Getting special drawing rights right: opportunities for re-channelling SDRs to vulnerable countries
Zattler, Jürgen K. (2024)

Policy Brief 9/2024

Going beyond humanitarian aid in addressing refugee issues
Abedtalas, Musallam (2024)

The Current Column of 15 April 2024

Pooled funding supports best practices in UN development work
Baumann, Max-Otto / Abualghaib, Ola (2024)

published on devpolicy.org, 21.03.2024

Global governance: Reforming development finance
Berensmann, Kathrin / Sabine Laudage Teles / Christoph Sommer / Yabibal M. Walle (2024)

in: D+C Development and Cooperation

Development finance at a turning point: effects and policy recommendations
Berensmann, Kathrin / Sabine Laudage Teles / Christoph Sommer / Yabibal M. Walle (2023)

Discussion Paper 21/2023

The implementation of sustainable finance taxonomies: learning from South African experiences
Lötters-Viehof, Steffen / Sören Hilbrich / Kathrin Berensmann / Giovanna Artmann / Sam Ashman / Theresa Herbold / Agnese Monti / Felix Paffhausen / Stephanie Roigk / Lee-Ann Steenkamp (2023)

Policy Brief 20/2023

The implementation of sustainability taxonomies: the case of South Africa
Hilbrich, Sören / Kathrin Berensmann / Giovanna Artmann / Sam Ashman / Theresa Herbold / Steffen Lötters-Viehof / Agnese Monti / Felix Paffhausen Stephanie Roigk / Lee-Ann Steenkamp (2023)

Discussion Paper 15/2023

The international community must finally provide debt relief
Berensmann, Kathrin (2023)

The Current Column of 6 November 2023

From dialogue to action: Key lessons from the Consultations on the World Bank Reform Process
Walle, Yabibal / Clara Brandi (2023)

IDOS Newsletter

The Ongoing Reform of the World Bank
Walle, Yabibal M. / Clara Brandi (2023)

The Current Column of 2 October 2023

The reform of the World Bank: Expanded mission but limited capacity?
Walle, Yabibal / Clara Brandi (2023)

The Current Column of 24 April 2023

Green finance in Asia: challenges, policies and avenues for research
Diaz-Rainey, Ivan / Jan Corfee-Morlot / Ulrich Volz / Ben Caldecott (2023)

Climate Policy 23 (1), 1-10

The EU taxonomy for sustainable activities: an experiment
Hilbrich, Sören (2022)

The Current Column of 28 March 2022

Debt situation is escalating in many developing countries
Berensmann, Kathrin (2022)

in: D+C Development and Cooperation, 4 October 2022

Resolving debt crises in developing countries: how can the G20 contribute to operationalising the Common Framework?
Berensmann, K., M. A. Ekeruche, C. Heitzig, A. Ordu, L. W. Senbet (2022)

T20 Policy Brief, Jakarta

Addressing the Debt Crisis in the Global South: Debt Relief for sustainable Recoveries
Volz, Ulrich / Kathrin Berensmann / Sara Burke / Kevin P. Gallagher / Stephany Griffith-Jones / Martin Kessler / Irene Monasterolo (2022)

T7 Policy Brief

How could a new universal code of conduct prevent and resolve sovereign debt crises? Proposals for design and implementation
Berensmann, Kathrin (2022)

Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley

On the potential of sovereign state-contingent debt in contributing to better public debt management and enhancing sustainability outcomes
Volz, Ulrich (2022)

Journal of Globalization and Development Policy, 13 (2), 379-409

Scaling Up Sustainable Finance and Investment in the Global South
Schoenmaker, Dirk / Ulrich Volz (eds.) (2022)

London: CEPR Press, pp 109-132

Finanzierung der Transformation zur Nachhaltigkeit: Eine Herkulesaufgabe für die EU?
Berensmann, Kathrin (2022)

in: Zeitschrift für das gesamte Kreditwesen, 1/2022, S. 33-38, Frankfurt a.M.

Climate-proofing the Global Financial System
Volz, Ulrich (2022)

Journal of Globalization and Development Policy 13(1), 1-30

Raus aus der Schuldenfalle
Berensmann, Kathrin (2022)

in: Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, 07.04.2022

The Role of Central Banks and Supervisors in Scaling Up Sustainable Finance and Investment in the Global South
Volz, Ulrich / Simon Dikau / Elena Almeida / Nick Robins (2022)

In: Schoenmaker, Dirk / Volz, Ulrich, (eds.), Scaling Up Sustainable Finance and Investment in the Global South. London: CEPR Press, pp 109-132

Enhancing Digital Sustainable Finance: Digital Solutions to Mobilise Capital, Assess Environmental Risks and Enhance Financial Inclusion
Dikau, Simon / Marianne Haar / Ulrich Volz (2022)

T20 Policy Brief (Task Force 9: Global Cooperation for SDG Financing), T20 Indonesia

Scaling up sustainable investment through blockchain-based project bonds
Chen, Yushi / Ulrich Volz (2022)

Development Policy Review, 40 (5), article e12582

What is social finance? Definitions by market participants, the EU taxonomy for sustainable activities, and implications for development policy
Hilbrich, Sören (2021)

Discussion Paper 29/2021

How Can the G20 Support Innovative. Mechanisms to Mobilise Financial Resources for LDCs in a Post-Pandemic World?
Berensmann, Kathrin (2021)

published in the UNCTAD (2021): Bringing the voice of Least Developed Countries into the G20 Policy Agenda, A special issue to celebrate the 50 years of LDC category, Geneva 2021, pp. 27-35, auch veröffentlicht als Instituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) Papers 49/21, October 2021

Covid-19 Crisis: G20 and debt sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa
Berensmann, Kathrin / Aloysius Ordu / Lemma W. Senbet (2021)

in: Antonio Villafranca / Carlo Mongini (eds.), Debt in a Post-Covid World: Is It Sustainable?, Milan: ISPI (Instituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale), online dossier

COVID-19: How Can the G20 Address Debt Distress in SSA?
Berensmann, K., H. K. Chavula, A. Chiumia, M. A. Ekeruche, N. Ndung’u, A. Ordu, L. W. Senbet, A. Shimeles (2021)

T20 Policy Brief Task Force 9 “International Finance”, September 2021

Debt relief for a green and inclusive recovery: securing private-sector participation and creating policy space for sustainable development
Volz, Ulrich / Shamshad Akthar / Kevin Gallagher / Stephany Griffith-Jones / Jörg Haas / Moritz Kraemer (2021)

Berlin, London, and Boston/MA: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung; SOAS University of London; and Boston University

Avoiding too little, too late: debt relief for a green and inclusive recovery
Volz, Ulrich (2021)

in: Kevin P. Gallagher / Gao Haihong (eds.), Building back a better global financial safety net, Boston, MA: Boston University, 88-95

Die neue Schuldenkrise als Chance
Volz, Ulrich (2021)

Böll Thema 1/2021, 40-41

The IMF and the macro-criticality of climate change
Volz, Ulrich (2021)

in: Kevin P. Gallagher / Gao Haihong (eds.), Building back a better global financial safety net, Boston, MA: Boston University, 108-118

Events

Panel Discussion
Designing the new UN climate finance goal

Bonn and Online, 4 June 2024

Online Panel Discussion
Development Finance in Times of Multiple Crises
Online, 13 March 2024

Workshop
Potential of South Africa's Green Finance Taxonomy to Contribute to the Economic Transformation towards Sustainability
Johannesburg and Online, 25 April 2023

Projects

The Implementation of the South African Green Finance Taxonomy
Fair Globalisation II
Fair Globalisation I

Highlight

Financing the United Nations: status quo, challenges and reform options
Baumann, Max-Otto / Haug, Sebastian (2024)
New York: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

Video: Multilateral cooperation

#99SecondsWith Anna-Katharina Hornidge

Video: Reform of international financial institutions

Highlight

Global governance: Reforming development finance
Berensmann, Kathrin / Sabine Laudage Teles / Christoph Sommer / Yabibal M. Walle (2024)

in: D+C Development and Cooperation

Highlight

Development finance at a turning point: effects and policy recommendations
Berensmann, Kathrin / Sabine Laudage Teles / Christoph Sommer / Yabibal M. Walle (2023)

Discussion Paper 21/2023