Shifting narratives on funding mitigation abroad: Insights from an international dialogue

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This paper presents insights from a literature review and expert dialogue on how to build public support in advanced economies for funding climate mitigation abroad — by shifting narratives.

The project was conducted by Motu Research, the European University Institute, and the University of Zürich. It considered both conventional climate finance and carbon market approaches under the Paris Agreement.

The paper identifies a cluster of concrete national-interest arguments that could help build public support in advanced economies for funding international climate cooperation:

• partnering with others to tackle a global, collective issue
• creating new market opportunities benefiting funders
• investing in global and regional stability
• reinforcing broader national objectives and processes
• enhancing global mitigation effort
• finding the political middle ground.
   

Key steps for building public trust in funding mitigation abroad include:

• ensuring high-integrity carbon market and climate finance approaches
• encouraging country-specific narratives from credible voices
• enabling more public participation and transparency in government decision-making processes.
   

How public narratives on funding mitigation abroad are developed and applied today will have implications for international climate cooperation over decades to come. Public narratives based on outdated, incomplete, or incorrect information can be improved, while public narratives that reveal policy deficiencies can create opportunities for transformational change.

The insights from this process highlight the need for deeper and more systematic research across diverse advanced economies to understand and transform public narratives on funding mitigation abroad. 

DOI - 10.29310/WP.2026.01

Citation

Leining, Catherine, Sasha Maher, Lucy Peake, Alessia Casamassima, Albert Ferrari, Lea Heinrich, Simone Borghesi and Axel Michaelowa, 2026. “Shifting narratives on funding mitigation abroad: Insights from an international dialogue.” Motu Working Paper 26-01. Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. Wellington, New Zealand.