WASHINGTON – On the eve of the 2019 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, more than 30 developing countries called on the international community to recapitalize the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) in response to worsening consequences of climate change and sweeping finance gaps for low-carbon development.
In a joint statement, ministers representing nations on the frontlines of climate change sent the clearest signal yet that CIF is, and should remain, a central multilateral institution in the global climate finance architecture. Addressing mass migration, increased poverty rates, and other climate impacts, they declared, requires “significant investment” from CIF and its partners in areas spanning resilience, energy transition and access, land use management, and sustainable cities.
Mobilizing finance for climate action is a core development challenge and a multitrillion-dollar economic opportunity. Closing the expansive gap in climate finance is vital to supporting developing countries in meeting their sustainable development objectives, avoiding global climate catastrophe, and seizing the rewards of a new climate economy. It is also a priority area of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ Climate Summit in September of this year.
“Now is the time—not tomorrow, not next week—to direct all our energy, all our ingenuity, and all our resources toward reining in this crisis. With their statement today, developing countries acknowledged unequivocally that CIF is an essential means to this end,” said CIF Head Mafalda Duarte.
Honduras, Niger, Vietnam, Tajikistan, and other signatories praised CIF’s tried-and-tested approach to climate finance. They stressed the need to harness its comparative advantages and those of complementary multilateral climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund, to drive low-carbon and resilient development where it is needed most: in low and middle-income countries.
Now marking over a decade of climate action, CIF financing is unlocking over $55 billion in climate change-related investments across 72 countries. These efforts have realized hundreds of transformational programs and projects that would have been impossible without CIF’s below-market rates and patient, risk-absorbing capital. Worldwide, CIF-funded initiatives are supporting 26.5 gigawatts in clean power capacity, improved energy access for 8.5 million people and over 300,000 businesses, strengthened climate resilience for 45 million people and 44,000 businesses, and 36 million hectares of more sustainable forests.
These efforts range from developing new financial tools for scaling energy efficiency in Turkey, to ensuring climate-resilient livelihoods in Niger, to building the world’s largest concentrated solar power plant in Morocco. CIF partnerships are helping clean energy industries in Chile, India, Nepal, and Ghana, creating jobs and hope for enterprising young people across emerging economies. In addition, the lessons generated from more than 300 CIF-supported ventures are continually setting the standard for stakeholder engagement, governance, transparency, and accountability for similar financing institutions in the public and private sectors.
The climate decisions we make now will have lasting implications for our generation and those to come. We face a closing window of opportunity to enact the unprecedented transitions in land use, industry, energy, transport, and urban development needed to build a more resilient world.
With adequate financing, CIF can continue pushing the frontier of climate finance around the world, serving as a partner of choice for driving change in markets, technologies, institutions, and behaviors. CIF stands ready to continue contributing to a cleaner, more prosperous, and more sustainable future for all.
Marking more than ten years of climate action, the $8.3 billion Climate Investment Funds is the largest multilateral climate financing instrument in the world. CIF provides developing countries financing for climate-resilient and low-carbon development. These grants, concessional loans, risk mitigation instruments, and equity leverage significant financing from the private sector, multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other sources. Five MDBs—the African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and World Bank Group (WBG)—implement CIF-funded projects and programs.