Evidence Review on Results-Based Payments: Evidence Gap Map and Intervention Heat Map

Abstract

Results based payments (RBPs), which involve a funder who agrees to make payments to agents for achieving pre-agreed, verified results, are a unique approach that can potentially address the misaligned incentives at the heart of the climate challenge. They can do so by making payments to service providers or to beneficiaries contingent on achieving specific outcomes that deliver public benefits for the global commons. Such approaches are also applicable in adaptation interventions. This paper presents an evidence review on the landscape of RBPs in non-Annex I settings and low-income contexts in Annex I countries. It synthesizes insights from a wide range of sectors to enhance the application of results-based approaches in the climate domain. The evidence gap map reveals that vouchers, pay-for-performance models, payments for environmental services and conditional cash transfers have been extensively studied, whereas the evidence base on broader RBP modalities is much thinner. It highlights regional and sectoral patterns in the use of these modalities. Most evidence comes from North America, East Asia and Pacific, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean, with limited evidence from South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa. There is considerable potential to broaden the use of RBP-based commitments across both adaptation and mitigation projects.