Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action

The report outlines a four-step process—sector prioritization, landscape assessment, barrier identification, and intervention execution—to unlock private climate finance. Drawing from the International Climate Initiative Mobilizing Investment (IKI MI) program, it identifies common barriers such as unfavorable taxes, high capital costs, and a lack of proof points. It recommends that governments level the playing field by making low-carbon solutions commercially competitive against fossil-fuel alternatives and providing pilot projects to demonstrate business viability.

• The report proposes a systematic four-step process for NDC finance mobilization: prioritizing sectors, mapping key stakeholders, diagnosing regulatory and financial barriers, and executing targeted intervention strategies.
• NDC financing strategies can be implemented via 'top-down' approaches, starting with high-level goals to find 'lowest hanging fruit', or 'bottom-up' approaches, starting with specific sectors, technologies, or customer classes.
• Common barriers to private climate finance across the target countries include unfavorable tax and tariff treatments, challenging capital market conditions (such as currency fluctuation), and a lack of knowledge among financial institutions regarding low-carbon technologies.
• A critical requirement for scaling investment is 'leveling the playing field', ensuring low-carbon solutions are commercially attractive compared to carbon-intensive alternatives by driving their costs below those of incumbent fossil-fuel technologies.
• The report emphasizes the need for 'proof points' through pilot and demonstration projects to reduce perceived risk and provide the market and performance data necessary for private sector uptake.
• High financing costs, particularly for local debt capital, remain a significant barrier to deploying low-carbon technologies at scale, even as the underlying economics of the technologies improve.
• Political engagement and the analysis of 'winners' and 'losers' are essential, as vested interests in fossil-fuel-based businesses can pressure political systems to impede regulatory changes.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2020). Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/IKI-MI-report-2020-v3.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action. 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/IKI-MI-report-2020-v3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action |date=April 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/IKI-MI-report-2020-v3.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2020mobilizing, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Mobilizing Finance for Climate Action}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/IKI-MI-report-2020-v3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }