The chapter “International climate finance: institutions in the climate regime” by Dr. Ralph Bodle appears in the Research Handbook on Climate Finance and Investment Law. The volume is part of the Research Handbooks in Climate Law series and was published by Edward Elgar Publishing in 2025.

In his chapter, Bodle examines the institutional design of international climate finance within the climate regime. He traces how the institutional set-up evolved over the years in the 1992 UNFCCC, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and beyond into a diverse and highly specified framework. The analysis provides a legal assessment of institutional arrangements including the Adaptation Fund, the Green Climate Fund, the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, and the Standing Committee on Finance, tracing their development and functions, and their interaction within existing governance structures. The evolution of the institutional architecture demonstrates both legal and political innovation as well as muddling through.

The Research Handbook on Climate Finance and Investment Law is edited by Michael Mehling (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Harro van Asselt (University of Cambridge / University of Eastern Finland). It explores the effectiveness of finance and investment frameworks in supporting climate policy goals and identifies legal developments and future research directions at the intersection of climate action, finance, and investment law.