Observations on MFAT's climate finance investments in the Pacific

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) administers more than $680 million of funding for projects supporting climate resilience in the Pacific.

This is a significant investment of public money, and the funding is important to communities in the region on the frontline of climate change. Parliament and the public need to have confidence that the funding is being managed well and used to maximise value and impact.

Our work, published in a letter to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, looked at how MFAT considers value for money and reports on results in administering these Pacific climate finance grants.

We found that value for money considerations inform several aspects of MFAT’s processes for climate finance grants in the Pacific. However, we think there are opportunities for MFAT to improve the way it reports on the results and impact of this funding. MFAT has told us it has work underway to achieve this.

Read our detailed findings here: https://www.oag.parliament.nz/2025/climate-change-funding