Title page 1

Contents 3

Abstract 1

Acronyms 6

Executive summary 9

1. Introduction 13

2. Methodology 15

Climate finance attribution 16

3. MDBs 17

3.1. China's voting shares in MDBs 17

3.2. China's contributions to concessional MDB windows 22

3.3. Chinese leadership in MDBs 26

3.4. China as a client of MDBs 27

4. Vertical funds 33

4.1. China's contributions to vertical funds 34

4.2. Vertical fund financing to China 37

5. UN system 39

5.1. Financial contributions to development-oriented UN entities 39

5.1.1. Overall trends in China's voluntary and assessed funding of UN entities 39

5.1.2. UN entity level breakdown of China's voluntary contributions 42

5.1.3. China's contributions to UN funds and pooled mechanisms 48

5.2. UN expenditures in China 51

5.3. Chinese leadership within UN entities 54

6. China's contributions to international climate finance through multilateral organisations 57

7. Conclusion 61

Annex 1. Summary of Morris et al. (2021) methodology and selection criteria 64

Bibliography 65

TABLE 1. Change in China's voting share and rank over the reference period 18

TABLE 2. Chinese nationals in senior leadership positions at MDBs 27

TABLE 3. China's annual rank as a recipient of multilateral financial institution financing 29

TABLE 4. Vertical funds with Chinese participation 34

TABLE 5. Vertical funds without Chinese funding 37

TABLE 6. China's rank among voluntary donors by entity, 2010/2014/2019/2024 46

TABLE 7. Selected China-supported UN funds, facilities, and special cooperation mechanisms 49

TABLE 8. China's rank as expenditure recipient by entity, 2010/2014/2019/2024 53

TABLE 9. Chinese nationals in senior leadership positions within development-oriented UN entities 55

TABLE 10. China's attributable share of MDB climate finance outflows to LMICs 58

TABLE 11. China's shareholding in MDBs reporting on their climate finance 59

FIGURE 1. China's contributions to development-oriented multilaterals, 2011-2024 9

FIGURE 2. China's total concessional MDB contributions (IDA + AfDF + ADF), 2010-2025 22

FIGURE 3. China's contributions to IDA (IDA15 to IDA21), 2010-2026 23

FIGURE 4. China's contributions to the African Development Fund (AfDF-11 to AfDF-16), 2010-2025 24

FIGURE 5. China's contributions to the Asian Development Fund (ADF 10 to ADF 14), 2010-2025 24

FIGURE 6. China's rising donor rank across concessional MDB windows, 2010-2026 25

FIGURE 7. Multilateral financial institution financing to China, 2014-2025 28

FIGURE 8. Share of each bank's annual financing going to China, 2014-2024 30

FIGURE 9. China's MDB borrowing as a share of GDP, 2014-2024 33

FIGURE 10a. Chinese contributions to vertical funds, 2011-2024 35

FIGURE 10b. Contributions to vertical funds excluding COVAX and the Pandemic Fund 36

FIGURE 11. Vertical-fund financing to China, 2010-2024 38

FIGURE 12. Comparison of China's contributions to and receipts from vertical funds, 2011-2024 39

FIGURE 13. Top 10 government donors to development-oriented UN entities, 2024 40

FIGURE 14. China's rank as a UN government donor, 2010-2024, overall vs. only assessed vs. only voluntary contributions 40

FIGURE 15. Top 25 voluntary donors to development-oriented UN entities, 2024 41

FIGURE 16. Voluntary versus assessed shares of 2024 UN contributions for the 10 largest government donors and average across all countries 42

FIGURE 17. China's assessed and voluntary contributions by entity, 2024 43

FIGURE 18. China's contributions by entity, excl. regular budget and peace operations, 2024 44

FIGURE 19. China's voluntary contributions by entity, 2014 vs. 2019 vs. 2024 45

FIGURE 20. China's voluntary contributions by UN entity and core versus earmarked channel, 2024 47

FIGURE 21. Expenditures in China, selected entities, 2010-2024 52

FIGURE 22. China's contributions and receipts from selected UN entities, 2010-2024 54

FIGURE 23. Member state representation among UN staff, 2024 56

Boxes 5

BOX 1. Chinese DFI's use of RDBs as intermediaries 26

BOX 2. China's status as a developing country and MDB lending 31

BOX 3. China's Global Development Initiative and links with the UN 50