On Wednesday, during the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a suite of programs and targets to increase private investment in climate solutions and make progress on its COP26 commitment to mobilize $150 billion in climate finance by 2030. USAID is focusing on funding the most urgent needs in partner countries through expanding access to climate finance and increasing the number of financial institutions making climate investments. Concrete deliverables include:
USAID announced a new Sustainable Banking Alliance to increase the capacity of banks based in USAID partner countries to access climate finance. The program will launch with pilots in Colombia and Rwanda, with an initial budget of just over $1 million. USAID will partner with the local banking associations as well as international climate finance organizations to build local capacity in climate risk reporting, carbon accounting across financial portfolios, and providing training on climate finance lending, such as resilient agriculture and green bonds.
USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation announced a new partnership to expand our work in supporting the use of green finance mechanisms across the globe. The agencies’ joint efforts will target an initial small group of countries. The work can then be scaled and replicated with support from development finance institutions like the U.S. Development Finance Corporation. USAID will provide initial support for the development of green finance in up to five countries via public-private partnerships focused on improving the capacity and enabling conditions that accelerate the use of green finance mechanisms, such as the issuance of green and blue bonds.
USAID announced the launch of the Climate Finance Investor Network (CFIN) to facilitate faster engagement with the private sector. The CFIN will bring together a diverse group of climate finance actors to more easily partner with USAID to accelerate investment in climate solutions through network building, partnership facilitation, and catalytic grants. USAID urges private sector partners to join the Network today by visiting its partnership portal.