February 2015: During February 2015, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank and the Citi corporation reported on funding and new financial instruments. IDB, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and the World Bank launched publications on, inter alia, climate resilience, green growth and carbon pricing, and reported on a regional event in Asia.

On funding, AfDB released its 2014 annual report, ‘Financing Change: AfDB and CIF for a Climate-Smart Africa,’ which explains that CIF currently supports 27 African countries in the areas of clean technology, sustainable forest management (SFM), renewable energy access and climate-resilient development. In 2014, CIF support expanded to nine additional countries under the Program to Scale up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP). That year, AfDB- and CIF-approved projects totalled US$2.1 billion. [AfDB Press Release] [AfDB Publication Webpage] [Financing Change]

EIB launched two financial instruments, the Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE) scheme and the Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF), which aim to encourage private-sector participation in the “twin climate priorities” of energy use reduction and natural capital conservation in Europe. EIB and the European Commission (EC) will support the schemes with € 80 million and € 135 million, respectively. [EIB Press Release] EIB also signed an agreement with Sciences Po, a French university, to strengthen cooperation between the two institutions in research, education and vocational training. [EIB Press Release]

IDB and Guyana signed a US$ 17 million loan agreement to support the consolidation of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) activities through, inter alia, stakeholder consultations, support for an enforcement system and forest degradation management and operation of an monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system. [IDB Press Release]

The World Bank launched a US$ 600 million 10-year fixed rate global green bond. [World Bank Press Release] The Bank also approved US$ 200 million for strengthening Bolivia’s legal and institutional framework for the comprehensive management of disaster and climate risks. [World Bank Press Release]

The World Bank further announced an expansion of its City Creditworthiness Initiative, supported by a US$ 1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, which will enable work to unlock capital for building climate-smart infrastructure in five cities in developing countries. [World Bank Press Release] Also in February, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) authorized the World Bank and its International Finance Corporation (IFC) to seek accreditation as implementing entities and intermediaries to the GCF. [World Bank Press Release]

The Citi corporation committed to lending, investing and facilitating U$ 100 billion over the next 10 years to finance activities in the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation. [Citi Press Release]

IDB released two climate change-relevant publications: ‘Guarantees for Green Markets: Potential and Challenges,’ which examines how guarantees can respond to existing challenges of investing in low-carbon and climate-resilient technologies and activities in Latin America and the Caribbean; and ‘CGE Modeling: Simulations for Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean,’ which uses a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to examine the impact of carbon taxes on gross domestic product (GDP) and emissions under alternative closure rules and hypotheses in six countries of the region. [Guarantees for Green Markets] [CGE Modeling]

CIF published a mid-term progress update of its technical assistance to Nepal’s Mainstreaming Climate Change Risk Management in Development programme, supported under CIF’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), which aims to incorporate safeguards to address the effects of climate change into Nepal’s infrastructure development programmes, policies and projects. [Mainstreaming Climate Change Risk Management in Development]

The World Bank’s feature stories on adaptation and resilience presented: activities by the Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) to scale up disaster risk management and resilience-building in vulnerable countries [World Bank Story]; studies on the impacts of climate change on salt water intrusion in Bangladesh funded by the Bank’s Knowledge for Change Trust Fund [World Bank Story]; and a World Bank study on climate change and water resources planning, development and management in Zimbabwe [World Bank Story]. The study on Zimbabwe projects significant reduction in rainfall, river flows and groundwater recharge by 2050 and recommends the development of an integrated climate change strategy for the water and agriculture sectors. [Climate Change and Water Resources Planning, Development and Management in Zimbabwe]

The World Bank also published stories and blog posts on: green growth; green financial instruments; carbon pricing; and climate finance flows. A series of briefs presents green growth challenges and opportunities in multiple sectors in Macedonia, as identified by the World Bank’s Green Growth and Climate Change Analytic and Advisory Support Program, launched in 2011. [World Bank Story] Articles on green financial instruments examine: how the Bank’s green bonds are supporting climate-friendly growth [World Bank Story]; and how Islamic sukuk is becoming a viable form of green investment financing [World Bank Blog Post]. Blog posts discussed: the Climate Policy Initiative’s studies on global climate finance flows [World Bank Blog Post]; the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)’s proposal for an international carbon pricing framework [World Bank Blog Post]; and an emissions trading scheme (ETS) simulation among 20 companies in Brazil [World Bank Blog Post].

On events, the World Bank reported on the Mekong Delta Forum 2015, held from 2-3 February, in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, organized by the Government of Viet Nam, the World Bank, and the Embassies of Australia and the Netherlands, which attracted more than 200 participants. The Forum discussed the main principles of the Mekong Delta Plan and sought solutions to challenges from development and climate change. [World Bank Press Release]

The SDG Knowledge Hub publishes monthly climate finance updates that focus on news and reports on projects and other finance-related developments by MDBs and key climate finance-related institutions. Past Climate Finance Updates can be found under the tag: Finance Update: Climate Change. Climate finance news and developments relating to renewable energy and energy efficiency are published in monthly Sustainable Energy Finance Updates, which can be found under the tag: Finance Update: Sustainable Energy