BEYOND DIRECT ACCESS HOW NATIONAL GREEN BANKS CAN BUILD COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF CLIMATE FINANCE

This RMI insight brief argues that the global climate finance system must evolve from a focus on 'direct access' to multilateral funds toward establishing national institutions, specifically Green Investment Banks (GIBs), to ensure true country ownership. The authors posit that for large emerging markets, national GIBs can better mobilize domestic private capital and coordinate financial flows to achieve nationally determined commitments (NDCs) than current international structures.

• The current climate finance system is viewed as practically unfit for its purpose because it is too reliant on international structures and lacks sufficient national capacity and agency to mobilize the trillions of dollars needed for low-carbon projects.
• While 'direct access' allows national institutions to receive funds from multilateral entities, it does not equate to true country ownership, which requires influence over all national climate flows, including domestic, international, public, and private sources.
• For the top 10 non-Annex I greenhouse-gas emitting countries, success in the low-carbon transition depends more on building in-country financial and technical capacity to leverage private investment than on negotiating direct access to multilateral climate funds.
• Green Investment Banks (GIBs) are presented as a replicable model for country ownership, capable of serving as capital mobilizers, providers, lead arrangers, innovators, capacity-builders, and accelerators for enabling policy environments.
• National Development Banks (NDBs) can also support country ownership by utilizing instruments such as project-level debt, equity, guarantees, and green credit lines through local banks to direct private investment into low-carbon projects.
• The reliance on different types of financial resources shifts as countries increase their per-capita income; least-developed countries rely more on Official Development Assistance (ODA), while more prosperous countries rely more on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

APA

Whitney, A., & Bodnar, P. (2018). BEYOND DIRECT ACCESS HOW NATIONAL GREEN BANKS CAN BUILD COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF CLIMATE FINANCE. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2018/03/Beyond_Direct_Access_Insight_Brief.pdf

Chicago

Whitney, Angela, and Paul Bodnar. BEYOND DIRECT ACCESS HOW NATIONAL GREEN BANKS CAN BUILD COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF CLIMATE FINANCE. RMI, 2018. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2018/03/Beyond_Direct_Access_Insight_Brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Whitney |first1=Angela |last2=Bodnar |first2=Paul |title=BEYOND DIRECT ACCESS HOW NATIONAL GREEN BANKS CAN BUILD COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF CLIMATE FINANCE |publisher=RMI |date=March 2018 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2018/03/Beyond_Direct_Access_Insight_Brief.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{whitney2018beyond, author = {Whitney, Angela and Bodnar, Paul}, title = {{BEYOND DIRECT ACCESS HOW NATIONAL GREEN BANKS CAN BUILD COUNTRY OWNERSHIP OF CLIMATE FINANCE}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2018/03/Beyond_Direct_Access_Insight_Brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }