Education

Work Experience

Description of research project:

Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. Due to their lower adaptation capacity, low-income countries are significantly more affected. The Paris Agreement states that high-income countries shall support developing countries financially to reach the 1.5°C target. The thesis will create scientific evidence on climate-related development finance. First, it will address the lack of evidence surrounding climate-related development projects by compiling data from several donor institutions, containing rich information on project characteristics and other contextual indicators. This data set will enable studies on the most pertinent research gaps surrounding climate-related development finance, both from the scientific community and in the context of this thesis: The first chapter explores whether allocation of climate-related development finance follows a region’s potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation and implies clear policy responses. The second chapter asks about the outcomes of those projects: whether they are effective in climate change mitigation and adaptation using OECD DAC project success ratings on the one hand. On the other, how they impact inequality indicators in recipient countries, relying on satellite data of night lights and Instrumental Variables methods as identification strategy. The third chapter implements a rigorous impact evaluation of a new paradigm in development finance: Anticipatory Action.