Mobilizing resources for climate and development

Ani Dasgupta has little time for hype. He wants data tools people can actually use. Dasgupta has spent a career trying to make cities fairer and the planet more livable, first as an architect in training, then as a World Bank hand in the churn of post-disaster recovery, and now as head of the World Resources Institute. His path runs from Delhi’s informal settlements to Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami to WRI, where he argues that climate, nature, and development rise or fall together. The point, he says, is not elegant plans but outcomes that improve daily life. “Leadership isn’t about hierarchy or control, but about moral purpose, trust and collaboration.” Aceh provided the template. As The World Bank’s infrastructure lead in Indonesia, he coordinated dozens of donors with no formal authority, a lesson in convening rather than commanding. That experience animates his book, The New Global Possible, and his term of art for the work ahead: orchestration. In practice, he means stitching together actors who rarely meet so that local projects can take root and endure. “It’s about connecting funders, governments, NGOs and local communities so that projects can take root and sustain themselves.” The example he likes is decidedly unglamorous: a Kenyan macadamia venture that pays farmers promptly, restores degraded land, and turns a restoration pledge into steady income. Early catalytic support came via TerraFund for AFR100; commercial finance followed. Dasgupta is not blind to scale. He contends that nature delivers mitigation and adaptation at once, but proving and financing that claim is harder than repeating it. Kigali’s revival of its wetlands, culminating in Nyandungu Ecotourism Park, is his exhibit for nature-based solutions that reduce floods, create jobs, and bring back wildlife. Yet even here the constraint is money. He cites WRI’s finding that “every $1 invested in adaptation yields over $10 in benefits over 10 years,” then notes how little capital flows to such work. Technology, in his telling, is a means rather than a messiah. Radar alerts that pierce tropical cloud cover, open platforms like Global Forest Watch and the Land & Carbon Lab are tools to lower information costs and widen participation. He is bullish on using AI to make environmental intelligence conversational, while wary of the usual hype. Evidence that such tools matter already exists, he argues, pointing to cases where Indigenous monitoring in Peru halved deforestation on their lands. Dasgupta’s optimism is measured. Systems built on fossil fuels and nature’s liquidation will not flip quickly. He is convinced they can bend, provided collaboration is real and benefits are visible. “We are not stuck, and there is a way forward, but it takes work.” In the conversation that follows, we probe what that work looks like: how to orchestrate change across forests and cities, how to pay for adaptation, and how to keep equity at the center when the clock is short.

Too often, our discussions of climate and development finance focus on the supply side: - how many trillions are needed, - how to mobilize private capital, and - (sometimes) how to reform financial institutions. In doing so, we neglect the most critical foundation of all: planning. Energy systems, industrial sectors, cities, and transport cannot be financed in the abstract. They must be planned, through frameworks that assess technological options and pathways, sequence investments, and ensure affordability and resilience. Most major sectors are inherently regional: clean fuel corridors, mineral-based industrial hubs, cross-border grids, and transport systems that require coordination across markets. Innovation in new technologies—circular economy, optimized energy systems, innovations in industry or transport, storage (BESS), distributed resources (DERs)—must also be deliberately built into these pathways. Planning and pathways are what make such investments investable. Yet that is not how our financing approaches are usually structured. A bottom-up approach brings clarity on investment priorities anchored in a country’s development strategy and a region's opportunities for, and imperatives of, connectedness. From there, we need a technical and institutional framework that translates those priorities into costed, sequenced investment programs, supported by the right policies and institutions. The next step is an integrated financing framework that clarifies: • What can and should be financed through affordable sovereign borrowing (the IMF should then ensure access to adequate affordable borrowing, not impose arbitrary debt ceilings); • What should be led by the private sector; • Where would concessional or catalytic capital be most effective; • Which innovative tools (e.g. thematic or cities guarantee funds, liquidity mechanisms, etc.) could address structural barriers or project-specific risks. This approach also requires us to get much more precise about risk. Current practices compress diverse risks into blunt assessments. Sovereign ratings become a ceiling for public banks, cities, and projects. Instead, we should disaggregate risks (currency, liquidity, policy, offtake, etc.) and address each through fit-for-purpose structural reforms and tools. In short, financing the transition, and sustainable development more broadly, requires bottom-up planning and strategy-driven financing. When governments and regions are supported to do such planning, define what needs to be financed, and build the institutional and financial frameworks to support it, capital can flow where it’s needed. This also shows the limits of existing approaches to aligning finance (taxonomies, disclosures, due diligence) and the need instead for structural supports for planning, financing, and delivery. (image is of our 2022 Roadmap for Zero-Carbon Electrification in Africa https://lnkd.in/eFHmigmU).

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the African Union, published a report in September 2024, "Climate Finance in Africa: An overview of climate finance flows, challenges and opportunities." It examines climate finance flows to Africa, highlighting the existing funding gap and challenges while identifying opportunities to increase climate finance resources. Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Africa receives only a small portion (around 2%) of global climate finance, despite being highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. 2️⃣ While climate finance to Africa has increased at an average rate of 24% annually from 2011-2021, the growth has been uneven across regions and years. 3️⃣ Mitigation finance flows are higher than adaptation finance, despite adaptation being a more pressing need for the continent. 4️⃣ The majority of climate finance comes from bilateral sources and multilateral development banks (MDBs), with limited contributions from climate funds and philanthropies. 5️⃣ The energy sector receives the largest share of climate finance, followed by agriculture, water, and transport. ⚠ Challenges: 1️⃣ Africa faces a massive climate finance gap, receiving only around 11% of the estimated $2.8 trillion needed to implement its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by 2030. 2️⃣ Several challenges hinder access to climate finance, including weak institutional capacity, inadequate planning frameworks, data scarcity, and unfavorable financing terms from international sources. 3️⃣ Non-grant instruments from MDBs and bilateral agencies can exacerbate developing countries' vulnerability by increasing their debt burden and transferring financial risks. 4️⃣ International climate finance mechanisms often fail to consider the specific needs and circumstances of different countries, hindering effective utilization of funds. 5️⃣ Private sector engagement in climate finance remains limited, presenting a missed opportunity to leverage larger funding volumes. ✳ Opportunities: 1️⃣ Improving climate planning, budgeting, and investment frameworks, including developing NDC Implementation Plans and using tools like CPEIRs and CBT, can enhance access to finance. 2️⃣ Scaling up the use of direct access modalities can empower national and subnational institutions to access climate funds directly, bypassing international intermediaries. 3️⃣ Developing sustainable taxonomies, strengthening NDC project pipelines, and supporting SMEs can incentivize greater private sector investment in climate action. 4️⃣ Strengthening coordination between climate actors at national and international levels, including South-South partnerships, can enhance capacity and mobilize resources. #ClimateFinance #Africa #ClimateChange #SustainableDevelopment #NDCs #Adaptation #Mitigation #Decarbonization #EnergyTransition

Many countries face a 'triple crisis’ of debt pressures, nature loss and climate impacts. They urgently need to invest in greener and more resilient growth. Yet unsustainable debt levels - sometimes through no fault of their own (think of the Covid-19 pandemic) - means they cannot unlock the finance. We are therefore delighted to share the final report of the Expert Review on Debt, Nature and Climate. The report lays out five recommendations to tackle the 'triple crisis', enabling countries to take much bolder action to reverse nature loss and tackle climate change. 📊 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬. In particular, the IMF and World Bank need to strengthen their Debt Sustainability Analyses. 📉 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝, 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. The level of debt relief, terms of refinancing and choice of investments should be informed by a nature- and climate-smart DSA plus a country's own NDC/NBSAP (we wonks do love our acronyms!). 🤝 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝, 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭, 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. Keep pushing MDB reform. Introduce simple forms of contingency into all loans. Systematise debt-for-climate and debt-for-nature swaps. 📈 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. The Expert Review puts forward two innovative new approaches: a special purpose vehicle that can issue green bonds backed by future aid and an equity-like instrument that can align repayments with real fiscal savings. 💪 𝐅𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡, 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲. Domestic resource mobilisation is absolutely key to long-term debt sustainability. And by prioritising subsidy reform and carbon pricing, countries can boost public revenues while improving environmental outcomes. Congratulations to the extraordinary group of experts behind this endeavour, and particularly to the co-chairs, Moritz Kraemer and Vera Songwe, for your leadership. Thank you to the Governments of Colombia, France, Germany and Kenya for commissioning the Expert Review, and to the Government of Ireland and Children's Investment Fund Foundation for your support. And thank you to the secretariat for excellent work throughout: African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Finance for Development Lab, ODI Global and ECLAC. I've learned so much from all of you. Please find the full report here: https://lnkd.in/grkRZq3a

The Paris Summit last week was an important opportunity for countries to discuss increasing #climatefinance for developing countries. Progress was made, but there's still a long way to go. Debt 'pause clauses' were considered, which allow developing countries to postpone debt repayments in the event of natural disasters. This approach secures resources for recovery and resilient reconstruction. International taxes on carbon emissions and climate-related activities were also suggested to generate funds to support climate action. However, challenges still exist. Current mechanisms are slow, bureaucratic, and limited. We must speed up access to climate finance and propose innovative solutions. Here are a few ideas: ❇ Establish a new international climate finance fund to assist developing countries. This fund could be financed through a combination of public and private funds and used to support a wide range of climate-related projects, including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate adaptation. ❇ Make it easier for developing nations to access existing climate finance instruments by simplifying the application process, providing greater technical assistance, and reducing bureaucracy. ❇ Encourage private investment in climate finance for developing nations by offering tax breaks, guarantees, or other incentives to companies that engage in climate-friendly projects. ❇ Collaborate with developing countries to create innovative financial structures suited to their specific needs. This might involve using blockchain technology, carbon markets, or other new financial tools. ❇ Encourage technology transfer from developed to developing countries and provide assistance in capacity building to empower nations in tackling climate challenges more effectively. ❇ Increase transparency and accountability to ensure that climate financing is used effectively and efficiently across the administration and disbursement. These are only a few examples; there are many more ways to help developing countries in gaining access to climate finance. What are your thoughts? What are some other ways we might help developing countries get faster access to climate finance? Please let me know in the comments section below. #sustainability #ESG #GreenerTogether #climatechange #climateaction #sustainablefinance #finance #investment #energy

🌍Looking to unlock funding for sustainable impact in Africa? Here’s a curated list of intermediaries and collaborative funds that are driving catalytic capital, partnerships, and systems change across the continent. 🌀These organizations are not only funders—they’re trusted conveners, ecosystem builders, and strategic allies for African-led and Africa-focused work: Big Win Philanthropy - partners with visionary African leaders to drive transformational change for children and young people. https://www.bigwin.org/ ClimateWorks Foundation - serves as a global platform for innovative and high-impact climate solutions, connecting funders with strategies and partners to drive systemic change. https://lnkd.in/dFdV4Gbp Co-Impact - Advancing gender equality, education, health, and economic opportunity through large, long-term systems change grants. https://co-impact.org/ Firelight Foundation - a multi-donor public charity fund that supports community-based organizations (CBOs) in Eastern and Southern Africa. https://lnkd.in/dnXanpki Focusing Philanthropy - funds high-impact, evidence-based programs to address global poverty, health, and education challenges through a rigorous, investment-style approach. https://lnkd.in/dh-kuFYe Global Greengrants Fund - supports grassroots environmental and social justice initiatives by providing small, flexible grants to local communities worldwide, empowering them to protect their environments and uphold their rights. https://lnkd.in/drAmuqnt Lever for Change - a MacArthur Foundation affiliate that connects donors with bold solutions to global challenges—like inequality, economic opportunity, and climate change—through open competitions and a network of vetted organizations. https://lnkd.in/dMJhVRCw Marin Community Foundation - dedicated to mobilizing the power of community and the resources of philanthropy to advance equity for people, places, and the planet. https://www.marincf.org/ These intermediaries offer much more than capital—they bring learning, advocacy, and field-shaping influence to unlock Africa’s full potential. 🔗 Know others? Please share in the comments. #Africa #Philanthropy #CollaborativeFunding #Impact #DonorCollaboratives #AfricanLed #SystemsChange

Access to climate finance is essential for turning ambition into action, but unlocking these resources demands credible, science-based decision-making. In World Meteorological Organization's latest publication, Enhancing the Role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in Mobilizing Climate Finance (WMO-No. 1365), we explore how National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) can play a more strategic role in mobilising finance to support climate adaptation and resilience at the national level. The report offers a clear path: build capacity, embed climate science into national planning, and position NMHSs as core partners in financial decision-making, from early warnings to long-term investments. It’s time to recognise climate science not just as a technical input, but as a lever for unlocking transformational funding for those who need it most. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/d7zQxDFP

Recently Independent Evaluation Unit, Green Climate Fund published the Health and Wellbeing, Food, and Water Security (HWFW) Result Area which reflects a profound truth embedded in climate action: Health, food, and water security are essential components of human survival and foundational pillars of any equitable, resilient, and thriving society. Climate change exacerbates vulnerabilities, disrupts livelihoods, and undermines fundamental human rights to health, nutrition, and access to safe water. Without targeted action on these fronts, sustainable development will remain a distant dream. The Paris Agreement and the #SDGs enshrine the global commitment to tackle climate change while ensuring human dignity. The HWFW Result Area operates at the nexus of these priorities, addressing the immediate impacts of climate change to enable systemic, paradigm-shifting change across sectors. The GCF's investments in climate-smart agriculture, access to potable water, and disaster resilience have saved lives and sustained livelihoods in vulnerable regions, such as by introducing drought-resistant crops and building resilient water infrastructure, water conservation and early warning systems. Yet, as the evaluation report reveals, we are faced with both progress and essential challenges that demand urgent, collective action. Enhanced and diversified climate financing is critical for driving transformative change in food, water, and health systems in vulnerable communities. With nearly USD 7 billion already committed to HWFW-tagged programs and significant co-financing leveraged as catalytic investments, it's clear that innovative financing models—through equity investments, de-risking approaches, and blended finance—can unlock much-needed resources to reach the target for USD 1.15 trillion per year. Building donor confidence and strengthening future programming calls for collective action. Governments and global stakeholders must prioritize integrated approaches that link health, food, and water systems while adopting rigorous tracking indicators to drive accountability. Embracing co-benefits such as gender inclusion and social impact, and ensuring sustained, predictable donor funding are not just strategic imperatives—they are moral responsibilities. Let's unite to build resilient, climate-smart systems that safeguard lives and livelihoods around the world. Full report is here https://lnkd.in/gDvp_ajG #climateaction #watersecurity  #foodsecurity  #climateresilience  #globalsustainability  #healthandclimate  #adapttoclimatechange  #climatesmartagriculture  #biodiversityconservation  #genderequality  #healthyplanet  #climatejustice  #communityresilience  #greenfinancing  

Global climate finance is failing the people who need it most because it’s built for top-down pledges and compliance, not for getting resources into the hands of vulnerable communities. Today, less than 1% of funds reach grassroots adaptation, while 1.3 billion people remain excluded from basic financial services—leaving them unable to absorb climate shocks. In this Forbes article by Felicia Jackson, Tom Mitchell, Executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and myself at CGAP argue that, to turn commitments into real resilience, we must redesign climate finance to prioritize locally led approaches, radically simplify and speed up access to funds, and align risk perception with market realities. We call for donors, MDBs, and governments to widen local access to climate finance through simplified approvals at major climate funds, channeling more financing through local intermediaries, and setting explicit targets for adaptation and direct community access—so climate money finally reaches the frontlines where it has the greatest impact. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/d8sfiSU4 #climatefinance #inclusivefinance #financialinclusion #locallyledadaptation