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The document critiques the OECD's proposed Total Official Support for Sustainable Development (TOSSD) metric, arguing it is a tool for wealthy nations to inflate their contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals without binding commitments. The author highlights concerns over the inclusion of non-concessional loans, in-donor costs, and the misappropriation of 'mutual benefit' rhetoric from South-South cooperation. It suggests that instead of a new composite measure, the OECD should focus on ensuring donors meet the 0.7% GNI target for ODA and improving statistical capacities in recipient countries.

The document analyzes the challenges African low-income countries (LICs) face in financing infrastructure, specifically focusing on the African Development Fund (ADF). It highlights a critical gap in concessional funding, which pushes LICs toward high-interest non-concessional loans and unsustainable debt. The paper evaluates the ADF's ability to mobilize private sector finance through blending, guarantees, and public-private partnerships (PPPs), while using Lesotho and Senegal as case studies to illustrate issues such as inadequate project preparation, limited institutional capacity, and the risks of poorly managed PPPs. It concludes with recommendations for the ADF to enhance its project preparation facilities, improve debt advisory services, and ensure more inclusive stakeholder consultations.

The SE4All Finance Committee report identifies a global annual investment need of over $1 trillion to meet 2030 sustainable energy goals, noting a significant funding gap of $654-862 billion. It argues that while capital is abundant, it is not automatically allocated to sustainable energy due to perceived risks, particularly in emerging markets. The report proposes four key investment themes—green bonds, DFI risk-sharing structures, new insurance solutions, and aggregation models—which could collectively catalyze an additional $120 billion in annual investment by 2020. It emphasizes the need for improved project preparation, the use of dedicated project preparation funds, and the strengthening of the governance and creditworthiness of power utilities in developing countries to create a pipeline of bankable projects.

The Long-Term FX Risk Management instrument, developed by The Lab in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and The Currency Exchange Fund Management Company (TIM), aims to unlock climate-relevant investments in emerging markets. By offering long-term fixed and inflation-linked cross-currency swaps, interest rate swaps, and local currency loans, the instrument addresses the financial uncertainty caused by currency mismatches in capital-intensive clean infrastructure projects. A proposed pilot requires USD 250 million in donor risk capital to provide up to USD 1 billion in hedging capacity, potentially supporting USD 1.5 billion in clean investment projects and reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions by 1.7 MtCO2.

The document analyzes the shift from traditional official development assistance (ODA) and commercial bank lending toward alternative financing for infrastructure in Africa. It highlights the role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), blending finance, and institutional investors like pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. A significant portion of the text focuses on the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP), which requires an estimated $500 billion in capital, and the systemic challenges facing the region, including underdeveloped financial markets and high utility tariffs.

The document identifies a significant investment gap in Africa's energy transition, estimated at US$35 billion per annum, and outlines the structural, political, and economic barriers hindering private investment. It proposes that DFIs take a catalytic role by improving institutional environments, developing bankable project pipelines, and employing innovative financial instruments—such as blended finance, green bonds, and local currency lending—to mitigate risks and crowd in private capital.

The document analyzes the political economy of climate finance in Africa, arguing that the system is dominated by the Global North and market-driven logics that privilege mitigation over adaptation. It highlights how the 'financialization' of climate action shifts risk to vulnerable individuals and exacerbates debt crises in African nations. Through case studies of Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, the paper illustrates the challenges of tracking funds and the limited influence of civil society. It recommends the creation of localized African financing institutions and the use of debt-for-climate swaps to improve sustainability and equity.

The report argues that a rapid transition to a 1.5°C pathway is more economically beneficial than a slow one, as renewable energy costs are now lower than fossil fuels. It proposes three policy pillars—speed, steering, and simplification—to mobilize private capital and align economic development with climate goals. Key recommendations include establishing national carbon budgets, mandating transition plan disclosures, reforming carbon pricing, and utilizing blended finance and guarantees to reduce risks for investors, particularly in emerging markets.

The report examines the role of European Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) in bridging the global climate investment gap, which is estimated between USD 2.5 trillion and USD 4 trillion annually. It highlights the significant financing power of EU Member State public development banks, whose assets were estimated at EUR 3.2 trillion in 2020, and emphasizes the need for large-scale private capital mobilisation, particularly in emerging markets. The document notes a lack of standardized metrics and data regarding the efficacy of mobilisation tools, which hinders comparison across DFIs. It also positions the role of developed market DFIs within the context of the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) to be adopted at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The report highlights Indonesia's growing green bond market, which reached nearly USD 3 billion by October 2019, and the government's efforts to scale up blended finance to meet climate targets and sustainable development goals. It emphasizes the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in de-risking projects and the importance of avoiding deforestation in green investments.

The document outlines a seven-step process for issuing green bonds for climate resilience, covering eligibility criteria, project identification, framework development, verification, and reporting. It emphasizes the importance of aligning with international standards to ensure investor credibility and provides guidance on distinguishing between system-level resilience investments and the adaptation of specific assets.

Indonesia faces significant structural barriers to achieving net-zero emissions by 2060, including an unstable policy environment, inconsistent signals regarding fossil fuel subsidies, and a lack of coordinated strategy across sectors. The country requires approximately $200 billion annually for its climate agenda, yet domestic public budget contributions from 20152020 averaged only $4.5 billion. To address these gaps, the briefing suggests three key interventions: the use of blended finance to de-risk renewable energy projects like geothermal power, the operationalization of 'Just Transition' principles through the Indonesia Just Energy Transition Partnership (INO-JETP), and the implementation of multi-level coordination mechanisms to engage sub-national governments and standardize greenhouse gas reporting.

The BDMG Regenerative Agriculture Fund is a blended finance instrument designed to overcome barriers to the adoption of regenerative agriculture (RA) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It employs a tri-partite structure consisting of a credit guarantee fund to reduce collateral requirements, a technical assistance fund to bridge knowledge gaps, and a production support fund to buffer temporary income losses during the transition. The instrument specifically targets coffee, cattle, soybean, and corn producers, with a gender-equity focus providing higher guarantee coverage for women. The fund is currently moving from a design phase, supported by the FiCS Innovation Lab and Climate Policy Initiative, into a pilot implementation phase targeting an annual credit portfolio of BRL 10 million.

Ghana faces a significant climate finance gap, with an annual average of USD 830 million tracked in 2019 and 2020, representing only 5-9% of its estimated needs of USD 9.3-15.5 billion. Public finance dominates at 87% of total flows, while private finance accounts for only 13%, heavily concentrated in energy systems. Funding is split nearly equally between adaptation (49%) and mitigation (47%), with the agriculture, forestry, and land use (AFOLU) and energy sectors receiving the most investment. The brief recommends implementing a national climate finance taxonomy, deploying innovative instruments like green bonds and blended finance, and improving the granularity of tracking to attract more private capital.

The document outlines how equity—both commercial and concessional—serves as a risk-absorbing capital instrument to finance early-stage climate projects. It details the different roles of governments and philanthropic actors in providing anchor or first-loss equity to improve risk-return profiles, the specific sectoral applications for renewables and nature-based solutions, and the internal and regulatory capacities required by Ministries of Finance to manage such investments. It further categorizes financial market readiness into shallow, emerging, and mature markets, providing tailored solutions for each.

The document defines debt-for-climate swaps as the cancellation or refinancing of sovereign debt in exchange for commitments to invest savings into climate mitigation, adaptation, or conservation. It outlines two primary structures: bilateral swaps between a debtor and official creditors, and tripartite swaps involving private creditors and NGO intermediaries. The guide details the internal and regulatory capacities required for implementation, ranging from basic debt tracking to the creation of special purpose vehicles (SPVs). It highlights that while swaps can improve sovereign credit ratings and reduce liquidity risk, they face challenges such as high transaction costs, limited structuring capacity in ministries of finance, and concerns over additionality. Case studies from Ecuador, Belize, and Seychelles illustrate the role of credit enhancements, such as political risk insurance and guarantees, in making these transactions viable.

FAST-Infra is a public-private partnership involving banks, asset managers, governments, and development banks aimed at accelerating private investment in sustainable infrastructure in developing countries. The initiative is developing a sustainable infrastructure labelling system to guide governments, developers, and institutional investors, alongside four pilot market mechanisms: a technology-enabled securitization platform, a global off-take/revenue guarantee provider, an open-sourced managed co-lending portfolio programme, and a sustainable financing facility for national development banks.

The document provides a landscape analysis of the global bioeconomy, estimated at US$4-5 trillion with potential growth to US$30 trillion by 2050. It categorizes the bioeconomy into a spectrum—Nature Intensive, Advanced, and High-Tech—and identifies specific financing gaps and risks for each. The report argues that scaling the bioeconomy requires an 'integrated' approach combining national strategies, international cooperation (particularly through the G20), and a mix of sustainable finance instruments such as nature credits, blended finance, and performance-linked sovereign debt.

The document defines first-loss facilities as tools that absorb the earliest layer of losses to reduce risk for senior investors, while second-loss facilities provide an additional protective layer after the first is depleted. These instruments are particularly relevant for adaptation, resilience, and nature-based solutions where projects often have variable returns and limited track records. The text details the roles of commercial and public providers, the impact on debt sustainability, and the internal and regulatory capacities required for governments to integrate these structures. It also outlines challenges to uptake, such as limited technical expertise in Ministries of Finance and high transaction costs for adaptation projects.

The Financing Steel Decarbonization (FSD) instrument is designed to mobilize private finance for the adoption of commercially available and pre-commercial low-carbon technologies in India's steel sector. It consists of two entities: the Steel Decarbonization Financing Facility (SDF), a blended debt fund, and the Steel Decarbonization Initiative (SDI), a service provider for project implementation. Over five years, FSD intends to deploy nearly USD 1 billion to mobilize an additional USD 3.4 billion in private investment, targeting a 25% reduction in emission intensity for approximately 20 MTPA of capacity.