This paper looks at financial flows supporting climate action and concludes that when flowing through bilateral initiatives and private support, they may affect developing countries in three ways: Firstly, it is argued that the acceptance of bilateral support for actions, particularly with explicit and stated mitigation objectives, weakens the negotiating stance of developing countries for ‘new’ and ‘additional’ finance. Secondly, the authors stated that the way in which the proliferation of bilateral mitigation support may affect developing countries is by way of implicitly suggesting that developing countries align their low-carbon development strategies to the criteria as defined by the channel delivering climate finance. Finally, it is highlighted that there is a possibility for commitments for bilateral support to also leave the Green Climate Fund empty.