11 April 2014: The UK, the US and Germany have announced a new initiative aimed at scaling up finance for climate change mitigation activities, especially from the private sector. Launched in partnership with the Governments of Denmark, France, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway, the initiative, dubbed the ‘Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance,’ will seek out private sector input on innovative tools for raising finance to combat climate change.

The Lab, which was unveiled by UK Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker at the Future of Energy Summit 2014 in New York, US, is part of an ongoing effort to raise US$100 billion for climate change adaptation and mitigation. After reviewing climate finance instruments proposed by the private sector and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as think tanks, the Lab will choose the most promising ideas and facilitate their implementation by capable institutions.

The Lab does not aim to increase climate fundraising goals; instead it will focus its efforts on increasing the public sector’s ability to leverage private finance. The inaugural meeting of the initiative will take place in June 2014, with the anticipation that ideas chosen for implementation will be announced by the beginning of 2015.

In addition to the climate finance donor countries, large private financial entities, such as Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, as well as multilateral development banks (MDBs), such as the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), are also expected to support the effort. [UNDP/World Bank Climate Finance Options (CFO) Platform Press Release]