Climate Business Resources
Featured Resources
Climate Investment Opportunities in South Asia - An IFC Analysis
Published November, 2017
By fully meeting the national targets they set under the Paris Agreement, South Asian countries can unlock $3.4 trillion of climate-smart investment opportunities, according to Climate Investment Opportunities in South Asia, a new report by IFC. The report identifies untapped opportunities for climate-smart investing in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka for sectors including renewable energy, transport, green buildings, urban wastewater, climate-smart agriculture, and municipal solid waste management.
Creating Markets for Climate Business: An IFC Climate Investment Opportunities Report
Published November, 2017
An IFC report launched in November 2017 finds that, through a combination of smart policy reforms and innovative business models, developing countries can catalyze trillions of dollars in private investment to meet climate targets promised in the landmark Paris Agreement. The report identifies seven key climate-smart sectors that can make a crucial difference in attracting private sector finance.
To help its clients better understand and respond to the risks of climate change, IFC is developing best practices in assessing private sector risk and adaptation strategy.Launced in 2008, IFC's Climate Risk Program features detailed case studies analyzing climate risks and adaptation options for projects taken from different sectors and regions.
Green Finance: A Bottom-up Approach to Track Existing Flows
Published April, 2017
An IFC report launched in April 2017 in partnership with Germany’s Gesellschaft für Internationale Zussamenarbeit (GIZ), seeks to provide methodologies for tracking flows that are aligned with much needed concrete definitions proposed at the project-level.
IFC’s Definitions and Metrics for Climate-Related Activities
Published April, 2017
Since 2011, IFC has used these Climate Definitions to identify climate-related investment opportunities and track its climate finance. This new, updated set of Climate Definitions captures new market developments and reflects IFC’s new Climate Implementation Plan. It also reflects the commonly agreed principles for tracking mitigation finance agreed to by the multilateral development banks (MDBs). IFC looks forward to using these Definitions together with our clients, governments and other stakeholders to expand climate-friendly investments around the world.
Energy Storage Trends and Opportunities in Emerging Markets
Published January, 2017
An IFC report launched in January 2017 finds that energy storage deployments in emerging markets are expected to grow 40 percent annually over the coming decade, resulting in about 80 gigawatts of new storage capacity. This will be a significant increase upon the less than 2 GW of capacity currently in place. The report outlines the principal uses, drivers, and challenges regarding commercialization of energy storage technologies in low- and middle-income countries, providing a forecast of expected deployments by region and impacts on energy access, grid stability, and other key areas.
Climate Investment Opportunities in Emerging Markets: An IFC Analysis
Published November, 2016
An IFC report launched in November 2016 shows that the historic global agreement on climate change adopted in Paris helped open up nearly $23 trillion in opportunities for climate-smart investments in emerging markets between now and 2030. IFC’s study, based on the national climate-change commitments and underlying policies of 21 emerging-market economies, representing 48 percent of global emissions, identifies sectors in each region where the potential for investment is greatest.
Climate-Smart Investment Potential in Latin America: A Trillion Dollar Opportunity
Published June, 2016
This report offers IFC’s assessment of how the formulation and adoption of NDCs by Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) governments presents the private sector with huge investment prospects of untapped climate-smart opportunities in a part of the world that is endowed with a wealth of natural capital and already is regarded as one of the great frontiers for climate smart investment.
IFC Climate Implementation Plan
Published April, 2016
The IFC Climate Implementation Plan builds on its renewed dedication to shift from “business as usual” towards more innovative and impactful investments to help emerging countries grow via a low-carbon path.
Aligning Kenya’s Financial System with Inclusive Green Investment
Published October, 2015
This report reviews the current state of inclusive green investment in Kenya, providing an overview of stakeholders, financial categories and volumes, and current and planned financial policies, regulations, and standards. The report then identifies barriers to green investment and discusses how these might be overcome.
Aligning Colombia's Financial System with Sustainable Development
Published June, 2015
This paper explores the state of green finance in Colombia within the wider economic and financial sector context, and identifies challenges and potential solutions that would enhance the application of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in the financial sector decision-making process and mobilize more investments for the transition toward a green economy.
Innovations in Green Credit Markets
Published June, 2015
Capital markets have been a source of funding for green investments for a number of years, but until recently, financing was predominantly from equity. Private equity, venture capital, and government funding were the most accessible sources of capital when green technologies such as solar and wind were in early stages of development. More recently, as these technologies have been tested, proven, and refined, funders have naturally progressed along the capital structure towards public equity and debt financing to support growth and scale. At the same time, leading financial institutions have provided impetus for expanded green investing. International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Kellogg School of Management have collaborated to author this paper which attempts to cover the bounty of credit tools available for harvesting by issuers and sponsors, with the aim of attracting new investments to green industry. This paper is the first in a series to proffer avenues to enhance the financial environment towards addressing this gap. This paper presents a brief overview of efforts that can circumvent these barriers by introducing a mix of innovative products to attract different kinds of fixed income investors and draw more private capital into funding green technologies.
Decarbonizing Development: Three Steps to a Zero-Carbon Future
Published June, 2015
The science is unequivocal: stabilizing climate change implies bringing net carbon emissions to zero. And this must be done by 2100 if we are to keep climate change anywhere near the 2 C. degree warming that world leaders have set as the maximum acceptable limit. Decarbonizing Development looks at what it would take to decarbonize the world economy by 2100 in a way that is compatible with countries’ broader development goals. It argues that the following are needed: Act early with an eye on the end-goal; Go beyond prices with a policy package that triggers changes in investment patterns, technologies and behaviors; Mind the political economy and smooth the transition for those who stand to be most affected.
Towards a Sustainable Financial System in Indonesia
Published April, 2015
This report was developed by IFC in partnership with the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System and ASrIA, with support from GIZ. Its aim is to support both domestic policy making and international understanding and knowledge by developing a holistic view of current green investment by a range of domestic financial actors and the local financial regulatory landscape in Indonesia.
Mercer Insights: Investing in a Time of Climate Change
Published April, 2015
The report assesses investment exposure to climate risk, estimates the impact on investment returns through to 2050 and offers insights on how investors can improve the resilience of investment portfolio in a time of climate change.
Leverage in IFC Climate-Related Investments
Published November, 2013
This paper is a part of a series of publications underpinning a report to the G20 Development Working Group on “Mobilizing Public and Private Funds for Inclusive Green Growth Investment in Developing Countries.” This review encompasses 562 investments undertaken over the 2005-2013 period in a variety of sectors, using the full panoply of IFC financial structures and instruments.
Enabling Environment for Private Sector Adaptation
Published November, 2013
This report reviews practical and implementable interventions that have significant potential for the creation of an enabling environment for private sector adaptation and the promotion of climate resilient development paths. Measures, indicators and examples are also provided to inform private sector organizations and policy makers about where conditions for adaptation investment are favorable, and what specific improvements can enhance a country’s environment for attracting private investment in climate change adaptation.
Insurers as Partners in Inclusive Green Growth
Published November, 2013
This report looks at the role of insurance in developing countries as a tool to address the concept intrinsic to inclusive green growth - limiting damages due to natural disasters, including those stemming from global climate change.
Non-traditional Approaches to Weather Observations in Developing Countries
Published November, 2013
This paper discusses a selected set of high-end, but relatively low-cost technologies, some well established and some just emerging, that have the potential to overcome many of the traditional barriers to weather observation networks in developing countries. Such networks can be of great importance because they provide a wide range of data which are the foundation of meteorological products and services, crucial for agriculture and other sectors.
Scaling Up Clean Cooking Solutions
Published November, 2013
This report provides an overview of the context, status, barriers and key drivers to scaling up clean cooking solutions. It includes an update on the status of World Bank Group programs, initiatives, and projects on energy for cooking.
Mobilizing Public and Private Funds for Inclusive Green Growth Investment in Developing Countries
Published November, 2013
This report was prepared for the G20 Development Working Group to inform the creation of a public-private G20 Dialogue Platform on Inclusive Green Investment to scale up commercially viable financial investments. This is a stocktaking exercise on existing innovative mechanisms to mobilize private capital for inclusive green growth investments in developing countries, and how to scale them up, including initiatives to engage institutional investors in these investments to identify best practices. The report distills key lessons learned and policy implications as the basis for strategies for attracting investment outside the G20 countries, consistent with making green growth more “inclusive”.
Private Investment In Green Growth and Climate-Related Activities
Published June, 2012
IFC provided analysis and support to developing the proposal for a Dialogue Platform for Inclusive Green Investment (DPIGI) that was announced by the G20 in Los Cabos, Mexico at the G20 Summit in 2012.
