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The study compares forest and land use laws in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, and the United States, focusing on riparian Permanent Preservation Areas (APP) and biodiversity conservation. It finds that Brazil maintains some of the most stringent rules for private land, specifically regarding mandatory native vegetation reserves without financial compensation, although the 2012 Forest Code relaxed some parameters for areas consolidated before July 2008.

The briefing proposes the use of Solar Investment Trusts (SEITs), structured as Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), to address financing barriers for small-scale rooftop solar projects in India. By pooling assets, SEITs aim to attract institutional investors, reduce the cost of equity by 300-350 basis points, and potentially mobilize USD 1 billion for the rooftop solar sector within five years. However, the document identifies significant barriers to immediate implementation, including SEBI's minimum asset value requirement of INR 500 crore and strict leverage limits of 49%, which currently exceed the capacity of even the largest Indian rooftop solar developers.

Sustainable Energy Bonds (SEBs) are proposed as a mechanism to bridge the debt financing gap for small-scale sustainable energy projects in India. By aggregating small projects through a Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC), SEBs reduce transaction costs and provide standardized impact reporting to attract impact investors. The analysis suggests that initial issuances, such as a proposed USD 5 million pilot by cKers Finance, require approximately 4% in public finance support—covering credit enhancement and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) costs—to maintain competitive lending rates of around 10% for project developers.

The 2017 Global Landscape of Climate Finance report finds that global climate finance peaked at $437 billion in 2015 before declining by 12% to $383 billion in 2016. The 2015 surge was primarily driven by private renewable energy investments in China, the U.S., and Japan. While solar and wind investments are largely on track for 2°C goals, other sectors like energy efficiency and adaptation remain significantly underfunded. Public finance is increasingly focused on energy efficiency, while multilateral development finance institutions (DFIs) are progressing toward their 2020 targets. The report highlights a strong preference for domestic investment, with 79% of finance remaining within the country of origin during 2015/2016.

The Matchmaker Service is a two-part instrument consisting of a subscription-based platform to match investors with city-level climate projects and a project preparation facility to improve project bankability. It specifically targets the financing gap for urban climate infrastructure in India, where municipalities often lack the capacity to create commercially viable projects and the creditworthiness to attract private capital. The report proposes a pilot project for electric bus fleets in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, utilizing a blended finance model via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to reduce the high cost of capital associated with private operators.

The briefing by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and NAPC/PUC-Rio challenges an Imaflora study's estimate that the new Forest Code 'amnesticized' 41 million hectares of Legal Reserve and Permanent Preservation Areas (APP). CPI argues that because certain provisions in Articles 13 and 15 of the new code repeated rules from the previous 1965 Forest Code, the actual amnesty is likely no more than 29 million hectares, with small producers (properties under 4 fiscal modules) being the primary beneficiaries via Article 67.

The paper argues that the cost of the energy transition can be reduced by allocating specific investment risks—such as construction, price, and curtailment—to the party best equipped to manage them, whether public entities, private investors, or consumers. It suggests that moving away from a binary choice between public and private finance toward a risk-based allocation approach can lead to significant cost efficiencies.

The document analyzes how the rise of variable renewable energy (VRE) undermines current electricity market designs, which rely on short-term marginal costs often set by natural gas. It highlights risks such as zero or negative pricing and increased financing costs due to investor uncertainty. To resolve this, the authors propose splitting the system into an 'energy market' for long-term, low-risk contracts for capital-intensive resources and a 'delivery market' that uses locational marginal pricing to incentivize flexibility from batteries, demand response, and dispatchable plants.

The policy brief analyzes the decentralized solar market in Brazil, finding that consumer uptake is driven primarily by demand-side factors rather than natural resource availability. Analysis of 5,563 municipalities reveals that areas with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more photovoltaic units, while regions with the highest solar potential, such as the Center and Northeast, have lower adoption rates. The authors recommend that climate risk mitigation policies address these demand-side barriers to encourage solar penetration in the poorest regions with the highest solar potential.

An analysis of 5,563 Brazilian municipalities by the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and PUC-Rio reveals that distributed solar PV adoption is driven primarily by demand factors rather than natural resource availability. The study finds that municipalities with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more PV units, while those with the highest solar radiation often have fewer. As of June 2017, only 1,478 municipalities had at least one distributed PV unit, with the highest concentration in Rio de Janeiro. The authors recommend that climate risk mitigation policies incorporate demand-side incentives and target poorer regions with high solar potential.

The Climate Smart Cattle Ranching (CSCR) initiative proposes a 'New Company' to address barriers to sustainable beef production in Brazil, specifically targeting mid-sized ranchers in the Amazon who lack formal land titles. The model uses a blended finance approach—initially through a Participations Investment Fund (FIP) involving grants, concessional debt, and impact equity—to co-invest in pasture restoration and the adoption of Embrapa’s Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). By providing long-term capital (up to 10 years) and continuous technical assistance, the instrument aims to increase productivity from 0.5-0.7 to up to 4 Animal Units per hectare, potentially reducing emissions intensity by 90-95% per kg of beef. The strategy includes a phase-out of concessional capital in favor of commercial investment via a Credits’ Rights Investment Fund (FIDC) once a track record of receivables from deforestation-free beef off-take agreements is established.

The document proposes the Green FIDC, a specialized securitization vehicle that transforms risky greenfield projects into bankable assets for institutional investors. By utilizing a two-stage process—initial development finance followed by refinancing through senior shares in the Brazilian capital markets—the instrument aims to reduce reliance on the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) and lower the cost of capital for renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives. The analysis highlights two pilot opportunities: a 90 MW solar PV project in Ceará and a municipal street lighting LED retrofit in Rio de Janeiro. Financial modeling suggests the instrument is commercially viable, with the potential to leverage USD 1 billion in investment and avoid 10 million tons of CO2 if scaled.

The research finds that demand-side factors are the primary drivers of distributed solar PV adoption in Brazil, often outweighing the availability of solar resources. Analysis shows that municipalities with higher GDP, larger populations, and higher electricity tariffs have more PV units, while solar radiation only becomes a significant positive predictor when comparing municipalities within the same electricity distributor's concession area. The authors argue that current subsidy policies in the Northeast region artificially lower tariffs, hindering PV growth in areas with the highest solar potential. They conclude that climate mitigation policies must address demand-side frictions and tariff structures rather than focusing solely on natural resource availability.

The report examines how domestic DFIs in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile can mobilize investment for their NDCs. While these institutions committed over US$11 billion in climate finance in 2015, the vast majority (98%) targeted mitigation, primarily in renewable energy, leaving a significant gap in adaptation and urban infrastructure. Key barriers include a lack of long-term low-cost capital, perceived poor risk-adjusted returns, and limited technical capacity to structure complex climate projects. The report recommends that governments provide clearer mandates and that multilateral development banks (MDBs) support NDBs through risk-mitigation instruments, technical assistance, and improved climate finance tracking.

The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has developed a new finance and business model for a Clean Energy Investment Trust aimed at institutional investors. By addressing the specific cashflow fundamentals of wind and solar projects—which differ from conventional fossil fuel generation due to higher initial investments and lower operating costs—the proposed model aims to reduce the cost of renewable energy by 15-17% compared to existing practices.

The report identifies that institutional investment in renewable energy is constrained by illiquidity, fund size, and a lack of internal expertise, limiting potential direct investment to less than 1% of total assets under management. To address this, the authors propose the Clean Energy Investment Trust (CEIT), a pooled, listed, and low-fee vehicle designed for liability-hedging. The report argues that a CEIT could increase potential institutional investment from $305 billion to nearly $4 trillion, significantly lowering the cost of capital for renewables. Initial core investors are expected to be large public-sector pension funds, with smaller institutions joining as the market matures.

The report argues that traditional utility and project finance models are inefficient for renewable energy because they do not align with the specific risk-reward profiles of wind and solar assets. It proposes the Clean Energy Investment Trust (CEIT), a liquid, exchange-traded vehicle targeting liability-hedging investors (such as pension funds and insurance companies) by offering investment-grade, bond-like returns. To achieve this, the CEIT unbundles project cashflows into four streams: construction finance, predictable contracted cashflows (the CEIT core), volatile 'surplus' cashflows, and 'tail' cashflows occurring after the fixed-price regime expires. By using risk-mitigation tools—including diversification of 5-10 assets, conservative P75-P95 production estimates, and long-term O&M contracts—the model claims it can reduce the cost of wind-generated electricity by 15-17%.

The document discusses Brazil's strategy to meet its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals by expanding its biofuel market. It highlights a study conducted in Rio de Janeiro showing that the increase in flex-car adoption—which reached 94% of new car registrations in 2008—reduces retail prices for both ethanol and gasoline. The study finds that a 10-percentage point increase in flex-car market share lowered ethanol prices by approximately eight cents of Brazilian reais and reduced gasoline margins by two cents, benefiting consumers who do not own flex-fuel vehicles.

The report argues that the cost of the low-carbon energy transition can be minimized by correctly allocating investment risks—such as construction, price, and curtailment—between private investors, public entities, and consumers. It introduces a framework to identify key risks based on technology and country context, select an appropriate ownership model, and use specific instruments (like guarantees or Feed-in Tariffs) to fill risk gaps. Case studies suggest that optimizing risk allocation could reduce levelized costs by 10% for onshore wind in New York and 30-40% for solar in India.

The document outlines the financial and environmental modeling for a proposed USD 100 million equity fund designed to scale up renewable energy projects. It details the use of an option mechanism to make early-stage development more attractive to investors, projecting that public finance could mobilize significant private capital and abate substantial CO2 emissions. It also compares RESF to various other clean energy funds and technical assistance initiatives across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.