Moving the Fulcrum

This working paper by the World Resources Institute outlines how public finance instruments and policy support can be used to leverage private sector capital to meet the significant low-carbon investment needs of developing countries.

• Developing countries require substantial annual investments to align greenhouse gas emissions with global targets, with estimates reaching $300 billion annually by 2020 and increasing to $500 billion annually by 2030. The commitment by industrialized nations to mobilize $100 billion annually by 2020 is insufficient to meet these needs.
• There is a significant opportunity to redirect private sector capital toward low-carbon development, noting that the financial stock of developing countries grew by $11 trillion in 2011.
• Private sector investment is hindered in developing countries because low-carbon and financial markets are often nascent, lacking the transparency, liquidity, size, and attractive risk-reward calculus that investors seek.
• The public sector can catalyze investment by managing political and macroeconomic risks through local currency loans, interest-rate/currency exchange products, and political risk guarantees, particularly in poorer countries where such instruments are not easily accessible.
• Public financing can address low-carbon market risks—including technology, operational, and policy risks—using different instruments based on market maturity: first-loss equity, debt investments, and concessional loans for newer markets, and risk sharing facilities, partial risk and credit guarantees, and flexible loans for established markets like energy efficiency, wind, and solar.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Moving the Fulcrum. https://www.wri.org/research/moving-fulcrum

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Moving the Fulcrum. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/moving-fulcrum.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Moving the Fulcrum |url=https://www.wri.org/research/moving-fulcrum |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendmoving, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Moving the Fulcrum}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/moving-fulcrum}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }