Climate finance refers to the local, national, or transnational financing that supports mitigation and adaptation actions to address climate change. It can be drawn from public, private, and alternative sources of financing. In accordance with the principles of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), developed country Parties are to provide financial resources to assist developing countries in implementing the objectives of the UNFCCC. The Convention and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance from those Parties with more financial resources to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Climate finance will be a key determinant of success for COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. There are many finance-related items that will impact COP26, including delivery of the US$100 billion goal and the longterm finance (LTF) program, which was due to come to an end in 2020; as well as the initiation of deliberations on a new post-2025 climate finance goal.

This brief considers the following issues in relation to how they might be addressed at COP26:

• the long-term climate finance regime during the 2020–25 transition
• launching deliberations on the post-2025 finance goal.