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This guide by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) provides a framework for decision-makers to select and deploy financial instruments—including grants, concessional loans, equity, and guarantees—to fund climate adaptation and mitigation. It emphasizes the need to identify project-level barriers to ensure investment subsidies are efficient and that financial instruments are supported by favorable policy environments and expert national institutions.

This working paper analyzes the tension between country ownership and accountability in climate finance. It argues that while financial management in many developing countries is strong, results-based management and social safeguards need improvement. The paper proposes three models of finance delivery—contributor-centered, shared, and full recipient ownership—and advocates for strengthening national systems over creating parallel international structures to increase development impact.