Financing country platforms

This expert note by the World Resources Institute examines country platforms as mechanisms to align public and private, national and international finance behind country-led climate, nature, and development plans. It identifies six key elements for effective platforms and details the specific roles and responsibilities of domestic institutions, international public institutions, and private finance providers in implementing these frameworks.

• Country platforms are designed to move away from fragmented, project-based approaches to mobilize finance at scale through structured, country-led plans and policy reforms. However, they risk creating excessive workloads and confusion if they lack institutional capacity, strategic coordination, and flexible sequencing of policy reform and funding.
• Effective country platforms rely on six core elements: strong political leadership combined with broad-based social agreement; integrated policy and investment planning across sectors; timely and coordinated grant funding for capacity building; a systemic approach to investment finance; early private sector engagement; and south-south learning and investment.
• Domestic institutions play critical anchoring roles: heads of state provide the political mandate; ministries of finance drive structural fiscal reforms and manage climate risks; and national development banks (NDBs) provide patient capital and local currency lending. NDBs, such as Brazil's BNDES and Indonesia's PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur, are key, though often limited by undercapitalization and shallow domestic markets.
• International public institutions provide essential technical and financial support. Multilateral development banks (MDBs) offer macroeconomic analysis and risk-mitigation instruments to mobilize private finance, while multilateral climate funds (MCFs) focus on climate and nature outcomes through readiness and project preparation funding.
• Private finance is essential for scale and technology diffusion, but currently, approximately 70 percent of blended climate finance flows to international corporations. The document emphasizes the need to include more domestic businesses and engage the private sector early to identify necessary policy reforms.
• Philanthropic capital, while small in volume, is highly valuable for early-stage institutional setup, capacity building, and supporting actors not reached by other funders, such as small community-based organizations. Currently, less than 2 percent of philanthropic funding is directed toward climate mitigation.

APA

Robinson, M., & Larsen, G. (2025). Financing country platforms. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2025-06/financing-country-platforms.pdf?VersionId=A3PpdLvOj9.oPO98HUtq2bSrU.9S2uzZ&_gl=1*vn0qba*_gcl_au*NDIwNTMyMjc3LjE3NTA4NjcwMTM.

Chicago

Robinson, Melanie, and Gaia Larsen. Financing country platforms. World Resources Institute, 2025. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2025-06/financing-country-platforms.pdf?VersionId=A3PpdLvOj9.oPO98HUtq2bSrU.9S2uzZ&_gl=1*vn0qba*_gcl_au*NDIwNTMyMjc3LjE3NTA4NjcwMTM.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Robinson |first1=Melanie |last2=Larsen |first2=Gaia |title=Financing country platforms |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=June 2025 |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2025-06/financing-country-platforms.pdf?VersionId=A3PpdLvOj9.oPO98HUtq2bSrU.9S2uzZ&_gl=1*vn0qba*_gcl_au*NDIwNTMyMjc3LjE3NTA4NjcwMTM. |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{robinson2025financing, author = {Robinson, Melanie and Larsen, Gaia}, title = {{Financing country platforms}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2025}, month = jun, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2025-06/financing-country-platforms.pdf?VersionId=A3PpdLvOj9.oPO98HUtq2bSrU.9S2uzZ&_gl=1*vn0qba*_gcl_au*NDIwNTMyMjc3LjE3NTA4NjcwMTM.}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }