Transparency International 2025: while corruption spreads, here's proof change is possible

Corruption still involves envelopes of cash under tables in many countries. But it's also evolving. Transparency International's 2025 annual report shows how corruption is taking new forms, and so is our response. We tackle corruption across multiple fronts: publishing the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), closing governance loopholes, supporting business integrity, protecting people who challenge wrongdoing and pushing law enforcement. All these areas are connected by one fundamental truth: you can't stop corruption without a fair distribution of power.

The greatest proof of change is people. In the last 12 months alone, our Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALACs) supported 14,000 people affected by corruption across 53 countries, a significant increase despite funding constraints. Since 2003, ALACs have assisted nearly 400,000 people and helped investigate nearly 90,000 corruption-related cases. These aren't just numbers. They're evidence that when ordinary people get access to legal information, expert support and resources to fight back, power becomes accountable.

When civic space shrinks, corruption rises. The 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index – our annual ranking of global public sector corruption – confirmed this.

We defended civil society from attacks in countries from Brazil to Georgia and supported people’s right to safely protest against corruption in countries from Indonesia to Nepal. We also worked with partners across 86 countries to monitor and respond to early threats to civic freedoms, with specific actions against local threats in Bangladesh, Kenya, and the Republic of Congo.

In the European Union (EU), we helped achieve an important institutional win: the adoption of a new anti-corruption legislation that allows civil society organisations like Transparency International to represent communities harmed by corruption in legal proceedings. This could greatly increase the number of people who are able to secure justice.

Supporting people matters. So does legislative and institutional change. For years, Transparency International advocated for a global standard on political finance. In December 2025, that work paid off. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) adopted Resolution 11/7, the most advanced global standard for integrity in political finance to date.

When donations go undisclosed and foreign interests secretly fund campaigns, corruption thrives. The resolution will make it significantly harder to buy influence on politics.

In Africa, Asia and Latin America, our chapters are already working to turn the UNCAC resolution into national laws to drive change on the ground.

At the 2025 Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), we achieved another important milestone: governments agreed to make anti-corruption a cross-cutting priority. This was UN’s biggest chance in over a decade to close the financing gap to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by protecting resources.

It matters because corruption diverts money away from housing, schools, hospitals and infrastructure, deepening inequality for the poorest.

After years of campaigning by Transparency International and others, the EU finally closed its golden passport schemes. In April 2025, the EU Court of Justice ruled that Malta could no longer operate its citizenship-by-investment scheme.

The ruling effectively shut down the last major loophole. Wealth can no longer buy residency in the European Union.

We also moved to protect climate negotiations from corruption itself.

We persuaded UN climate chiefs to strengthen conflict of interest rules. Since COP30, observers in global climate talks are required to disclose funding sources and confirm compliance with UN climate goals. Though voluntary, this sets a precedent for transparency in climate negotiations, making it harder for fossil fuel interests to operate unseen.

We are continuing this work ahead of COP31 in Turkey this November, focusing on defining and mitigating conflicts of interest that undermine climate action.

Systemic corruption persists not from missing solutions but from siloed action. Change demands coordination: people pursuing justice, businesses adopting integrity practices, governments closing loopholes.

What 2025 proved is simple: when people have power, corruption loses.

Wrongdoing thrives on silence. Ending corruption demands people to pay attention, speak up and act.