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

The briefing contends that the current climate finance system is too reliant on international intermediaries and insufficient for achieving Paris Agreement goals. It proposes that national green investment banks (GIBs) provide a replicable model for developing countries to coordinate both foreign and domestic financial flows, reducing dependence on multilateral aid and enhancing national agency over low-carbon transitions.

• The current climate finance system is practically inadequate because it is too focused on international structures and lacks the national capacity and agency required to mobilize the trillions of dollars needed for low-carbon projects.
• Direct access to multilateral funds is an insufficient measure of country ownership; authentic ownership requires national institutions to have influence, responsibility, and accountability over all climate-related financial flows, including domestic and private capital.
• For the ten largest non-Annex I greenhouse-gas emitters, including China, India, and Brazil, multilateral climate funds are not materially essential for financing low-carbon growth; these nations instead need the technical and financial capacity to leverage private and domestic investments.
• National green investment banks (GIBs) serve as a comprehensive institutional model that can perform six key functions: mobilizing capital, providing diverse financial instruments, acting as a lead arranger for deals, piloting financial innovations, building local sector capacity, and accelerating policy reforms through government feedback loops.
• As developing countries increase their per-capita income, their reliance shifts from Official Development Assistance (ODA) toward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and other diverse resources.

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} }