The Fourth Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), scheduled from 30 June to 3 July in Seville, Spain, is a crucial opportunity for CVF countries to address systemic barriers to building economic resilience and sustainable development in an increasingly polarized world. Four preparatory committee meetings have been held, which aimed to refine policy recommendations, assess progress since the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, build consensus on key issues, and facilitate input from stakeholders. 

The CVF-V20 has outlined key priority areas for the FfD4:

1. Climate finance must be fully mainstreamed into the FfD Outcome Document: This is not just a peripheral issue but as a central existential risk must be addressed in the framework. This will send a strong signal of political will ahead of COP30, and help bridge and bring convergence to the FfD and UNFCCC pathways.

    

2. ODA-plus: Avoiding the conflation of development and climate finance is fundamental to durable outcomes. Without clarity in the distinction, we risk collapsing both into a single, insufficient pool at a time when ODA versus non-ODA transparency has yet to deliver policy precision and required scale. We therefore call for an “ODA- plus” approach—one that ensures climate and biodiversity finance are sufficiently mobilized to address escalating physical and transition risks while protecting and enabling development outcomes.

    

3. Leadership in Debt Solutions: Debt relief and restructuring mechanisms that account for climate vulnerabilities and explicitly consider the needs of the most climate-vulnerable, recognizing that climate vulnerability is less about geography than it is about capacity – this is a socio-economic category above all else. Mounting debt servicing costs have reached historically high levels of 15% on average across the V20 membership, with 11 V20 member countries spending over 25% of government revenue servicing external debt. While debt stock may be going down, debt servicing expenditures are back to levels not seen since 2000.

   The G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Initiative must be amended to become more effective, time bound and transparent. CRDCs should be included in all new debt borrowing and the framework of the IMF-World bank Debt Sustainability Analysis should be revisited to make it more solvency-focused rather than liquidity-focused, and include natural capital and climate investment needs. Equally important is the need for Guidelines for Responsible Sovereign Borrowing and Lending.

4. Concessional Capital: The high cost of capital remains a major barrier for many developing countries, limiting investments in  climate action and development goals. FfD4 can open avenues to advance solutions that provide finance at concessional rates, grants, and non-debt-creating instruments. This can also include access to junior equity, low-cost convertible loans, first-loss capital, guarantees, and debt-for-climate swaps.

    

5. Fair Cost of Capital:  More equitable access to capital markets and reducing borrowing costs for climate adaptation projects. This includes supporting the development of capital markets and addressing regulatory challenges associated with Basel III—the international standard for banks’ capital and liquidity requirements—to leverage bank financing to close the infrastructure gap in EMDEs.

    

6. Supporting MDBs in the implementation of the “G20 Roadmap for MDB reform”, the purpose of which is to to make MDBs better, bigger, and more effective through, inter alia, (a) reforming financial institutions to better address the unique challenges of climate-vulnerable economies, (b) Scaling up MDB investment volume and capacity by leveraging guarantees and insurance, and by leveraging SDRs for climate vulnerable countries to provide unconditional debt-free support at no cost to SDR holders, and (c) Boosting MDBs local currency financing.

    

7. Domestic fiscal capacity must be strengthened in the face of declining ODA through global tax reforms that are critical to addressing illicit financial flows, tax evasion and profit shifting.

1. First Preparatory Committee Session and the Elements Paper  – In an effort to renew the push for sustainable development financing, nine years after the development of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, representatives from 103 countries, MDBs, civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2024. The meeting took stock of financing gaps and steps needed to close these gaps.
   
   On 22 November 2024, the Elements Paper was released – prepared on the basis of 300 inputs from member countries, UN entities, international financial institutes, civil society and other stakeholders. The 21 page document addressed a wide range of issues related to the global financing framework, private investments, trade and debt. The paper also focused on systemic reforms, science, technology and capacity building. The Elements Paper served as a guide for discussions during the Second Preparatory Session and informed the preparation of the Zero Draft of the FfD4 outcome document. 
   
   
2. Second Preparatory Committee Session and the Zero Draft of the FfD4 Outcome Document – Held in New York in December 2024, the session reflected on the Elements Paper and shared priorities and expectations that would aid in the development of the Zero Draft of the FfD4 outcome document. Following the session, on 17 January 2025, the Zero Draft paper was released, with the document garnering mixed reactions. While the CVF-V20 believes that the document offered a starting point for negotiations on debt management, climate finance and inclusivity, it lacked actionable specifics in areas critical to climate vulnerable countries such as the integration of climate risks into financial models and the establishment of accessible, climate-responsive funds.

    

3. Third Preparatory Committee Session and the First Draft of the FfD4 Outcome Document – In February 2025, the Third Preparatory Session featured a comprehensive presentation of the Zero Draft Paper. Some of the discussions and recommendations during the session revolved around issues that developing countries face in accessing concessional finance due to unsustainable debt, the need to scale up climate finance and the strategic allocation of funds to close gaps that prevent meaningful climate action.
   
   Following this session, the most recent document to be published, the First Draft of the FfD4 Outcome Document, was released on 10 March 2025. The First Draft presented a renewed global financing framework and outlines commitments across action areas which includes: 
   
   
   • Domestic public resourcesDomestic and international private business and financeInternational development cooperation
   • International trade as an engine for development
   • Debt and debt sustainability
   • International financial architecture and systemic issues
   • Science technology, innovation and capacity building
   • Data, monitoring and follow up
     
     
4. Preparatory Committee Session (Part 1) – Held from 30 April to 1 May, against the backdrop of news that ODA is set to decline, delegates discussed the First Draft of the FfD4 Outcome Document, as well as concerns regarding illicit financial flows, stolen assets and corruption. There have been stark divergences in negotiations, including the call from developing countries to incorporate climate finance under development finance. However, developed countries contend that issues surrounding climate finance must be addressed during the upcoming COP30. Furthermore, developing countries called on developed countries to recommit to contributing 0.7% of GDP to ODA and stressed the need for private investments. Part two of the Fourth Preparatory Committee Session is scheduled to take place in mid June, days ahead of the FfD4. 

While the needle is moving, it is not moving fast enough. Negotiations are progressing slower than expected, with several divergences among developed and developing countries. As further negotiations proceeded between 16 and 30 May, a new text will be developed on the basis of these negotiations. 

However, there is a possible silver lining. A key feature of the FfD process is the Sevilla Platform for Action (SPA) which will be launched on the opening day of the Conference. The SPA is one of the central tools of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development to drive the action on a reformed global financing framework for sustainable development. Building on the Sevilla outcome document, the “Sevilla Platform for Action” will mobilize alliances amongst countries and entities to implement specific actions of the document to address key development challenges. This will be achieved through the voluntary, coalition-style actions/initiatives on the part of nations and stakeholders to cumulate efforts in addressing common financing challenges through ambitious, measurable actions. These projects will take key elements of the FfD4 agenda i.e., mobilizing public and private finance, changing global financial structures, and building developing countries’ fiscal capacity into action. 

The SPA emphasizes visibility, accountability, and follow-up therefore all projects must be measurable, and easily communicated with clear implementation timelines. Additionally, initiatives must be new or represent a significant scaling up of an existing successful effort; be forward-looking and advance progress in at least one financing for development (FfD) action area. Furthermore, they will be listed in an open digital platform based on the FfD4 website and formally recorded in the opening session of the conference. Additionally, implementation will be monitored by the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development, and updates will be integrated into periodic FfD follow-up mechanisms, including the annual FfD Forum. In doing so, the Sevilla Platform seeks not only to muster political will but to ensure concrete, sustained outcomes in the interests of climate-resilient, inclusive development.

The FfD4 process must take bold steps to address the structural inequalities in global economic governance. With less than a month before the FfD4 starts, the CVF-V20 continues to advocate for fairer financial rules, systemic reforms and increased public financing that supports climate resilience and economic growth.