“We have 15 years of experience supporting the countries in the world most vulnerable to — and most affected by — weather-related disasters. These events include floods, heat waves, droughts and slow onset changes such as sea-level rise and land degradation,” said Luis Tineo, CIF’s Interim CEO, at the UNSG Special Meeting on Loss & Damage in New York on September 20. This event was one of the highlights of an action-packed week for the Climate Investment Funds team in New York, where we participated in United Nations and Climate Week events.
Also in the United Nations chambers, the Accelerating Decarbonization Through Collaboration and Implementation event, with segments on Industry Decarbonization, Battery Storage and Critical Energy Transition Materials, highlighted the work of the CIF. CIF’s Global Energy Storage Program (GESP) was discussed as the largest multilateral fund supporting energy storage. With more than $500 million in resources and building on an additional $400 million in historical storage support, GESP funding is expected to mobilize an additional $2-3 billion of public and private investments for these vital technologies.
On the topic of Industry Decarbonization, UNIDO, IFC and CIF presented a united front, articulating during a UNIDO event a chain reaction to help the world transition into a new era of green industry. “We’re here today because we know every one of us in this room shares the same desire to accelerate the transition of high-emitting industries to net-zero pathways; to scale the deployment of best available technologies and practices; to deliver finance quickly, flexibly, and at scale for transformational climate action; and to create the enabling and financial environment necessary to do so,” said Daniel Morris CIF’s Clean Energy Lead during this High Level Ministerial/CEO Dialogue on Financing Decarbonization of Heavy Emitting Industries.
CIF manages the $2.2bn Accelerating Coal Transition investment program, and was called on to share lessons learned during the Catalyzing Action for Managed Coal Phaseout event hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Powering Past Coal Alliance and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). “Concessional finance is key — it helps mitigate risk, lowers cost of capital, and in the process helps mobilize other source of capital such as MDB and private sector resources. We’ve seen our model deliver financing that’s far more affordable for developing countries,” explained Luis Tineo. “On just transitions, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. In some regions, it may not be possible to fully replace every coal job with a renewable energy job. Some are very distant, geographically, from the areas where solar and wind have been successful. So, we need custom economic strategies, region by region, to support just transitions for communities.”
CIF intends to take full advantage of forthcoming opportunities in the lead up to COP28 to further collaborate with key partners, raise awareness on climate finance needs, and share learnings and opportunities. For this, we will notably be participating in the Middle East and North Africa Climate Week, October 8-12 in Riyadh.