6 May 2013: During their 2013 annual meeting, the Trust Fund Committees and Sub-Committees of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) approved five revised Investment Plans for the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), and established a global index of the business environment for energy aiming to improve opportunities for investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy access under the Program for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP).

Held in Washington D.C., US, from 29 April to 3 May 2013, the event included the meetings of: the Forest Investment Program (FIP) Sub-Committee; the SPREP Sub-Committee; the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) Sub-Committee; the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) Trust Fund Committee; and the CTF Trust Fund Committee.

The CTF Trust Fund Committee supervises the overall functioning of the fund and approves new programming and projects. The SCF Trust Fund Committee provides strategic guidance and approval of new programmes under FIP, PPCR, and SREP.

During the meeting, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Ukraine and the Middle East and North of Africa Region (MENA) approved their revised CTF Investment Plans, which will be mainly destined to speed-up implementation and to scale-up private sector engagement in pre-approved projects. Under the new allocations, the MENA region increased ambitions regarding targets on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which augmented from 895 MW to 1.12 GW. In particular, Morocco will receive $218 million; Egypt $123 million; Tunisia $62 million; and Jordan $50 million to invest in CSP. Beyond CTF funds- totaling US $660 million- the project expects to catalyze $5 billion from private donors.

Under SREP, pilot countries Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya, Maldives, Mali and Nepal will benefit from the creation of the Index of the business environment for energy (BEE), which aims to: identify what institutional, regulatory, and legislative systems support sustainable energy investments; provide mechanisms to improve comparison of the investment climate for supporting investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and access to energy, as a benchmark for monitoring progress over time; and contribute to achieving SREP and CTF objectives and the three goals under the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative by informing country level interventions. [CIF Press Release] [AfDB Press Release] [IISD RS Story on the PPCR Meeting] [Proposal for Reporting on Enabling Environments for Promoting Energy Investments]