Understanding Climate Finance

Elizabeth Robberechts, Chief of Energy and Infrastructure at IDB Invest, joins the podcast this week to talk about how they look at investments and investment opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean.  She shares how the Inter American Bank’s investment arm is prioritizing climate finance in the region, including investment into climate adaptation, and key sectors and geographies where they would like to invest in going forward.

The concepts of Web3 and Regenerative Economics is new to many of us, but both can play a key role in addressing climate change.  Anna Lerner, CEO of the Climate Collective, shares how digital technologies will play a transformative role to unlock climate action at scale.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is the political insurance arm of the World Bank Group and provides a number of financial products for project developers working in the toughest environments.  Olga Calabozo Garrido, who leads MIGA’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean, shares how they evaluate and price risk in the region and how they add value to private investors who are keen to invest in climate focus projects. 

Accessing climate financing at scale can prove challenging because of a lack of track record or visibility to attract the right investors. Ian Callaghan, originator of the Climate Finance Accelerator concept, explains how the Climate Finance Accelerator looks to address this ‘missing middle’ through country specific programs and developing a sustainable pipeline of bankable, low-carbon projects. Learn about the Climate Finance Accelerator, funded by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, in this episode.

Don Purka, Principal Investment Officer for Energy at IFC, describes how IFC's shift to investing "upstream" in emerging markets to address the market conditions that have hindered investments in the past. We talk about energy investments in Africa and the role that IFC has played in catalyzing industries that have crowded in other investors.  

What is Britain doing to address international climate change?  Geoff Manley, from the newly minted British International Investment, talk about the development finance institution’s approach to investment and how Britain is approaching international climate investing.

What is FinDev Canada and what does it do?  Since its inception a few years ago, FinDev Canada has been committed to making impactful investments in Africa and Latin America.   Lori Kerr, CEO of FinDev Canada, joins the podcast to share priority areas for the organization and what they aim to build in the years to come.

The US DFC is a relatively new Development Finance Institution since it evolved from its predecessor, OPIC.  This has meant a greater emphasis on climate, a wider range of financial instruments at their disposal (such as equity and TA) and presents new opportunities for project developers.  Nadia Khawar, Director for Business Development in the Office of Structured Finance and Insurance at DFC, shares how DFC operates, where it is keen to invest and how they can work with Canadian projects in emerging markets.

Why is Natural Capital investing so important?  IDB’s Natural Capital Lab lead Greg Watson shares the priorities of the IDB around investing into nature based solutions and the financial instruments they support to make NBS investing a reality.

The Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) is truly a unique Crown corporation that allows Canadian companies to compete for government-to-government contracts by putting Canada behind its industry and exporters.  Antony Rizk explains how they get this done with the care it deserves and how they make Canada competitive. 

IDB Lab’s is a unique entity within the DFI community because of the early stage investments they can make.  Anita Fiori leads IDB Lab’s venture capital and direct loans operations and shares how they are making catalytic investments in the region. 

We’re back in the Netherlands, this time with the Dutch Financial Institution, FMO. A user of blended finance before it was known as blended finance, FMO has a lot of experience in leveraging private capital. Floor van Oppen explains how through the lens of climate action.   

In the final episode for 2021, Faheem and Rachel reflect on the conversation with Ambassador Fuller and share more information that came out of COP26 and from the MDBs on climate investing.   

Ambassador Patricia Fuller is Canada’s Ambassador for Climate Change and was a member of Canada’ delegation to COP26 in Glasgow.  She shares her impressions of COP and outlines Canada’s contributions to COP26 and climate change and how climate financing will be deployed.  

Climate Fund Managers is about to launch their second fund focused on water, oceans and sanitation. In this episode, Darren Moens explains to Rachel Soares (Climate Finance Trade Commissioner for Europe) how this Dutch-based climate fund mobilises private and public sector capital, and is looking for water/wastewater/waste project developers.

What is the role of IFC Treasury and how does it work with Financial Institution to advance Climate objectives?  This week we are joined by IFC’s Head of Industrial Relations, Esohe Denise Odaro, who describes how the IFC Treasury function works and how they incentivized financial institutions to reach ESG objectives.  Denise also is the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Green, Social and Sustainability-Linked Bonds Principles hosted by the International Capital Markets Association and was names by Environmental Finance as 2020 “Personality of the Year”. 

In this episode, we welcome back Alexa Blain, co-founder and Managing Partner of Deetken Impact. She follows up on her Climate Finance Roundtable Discussion (Episode 9) and shares her experience on building a pipeline of projects to invest in and how they have partnered with DFIs, such as IDB Lab. 

The InterAmerican Development Bank's Senior Specialist on Hydrogen joins the podcast this week to talk about hydrogen as a renewable energy source.  Michelle Hallack leads IDB's Energy Team on Hydrogen research, drawing from her strong academic and professional experience over the last 15 years,

 La spécialiste principal de l'hydrogène à la Banque interaméricaine de développement parle de l'hydrogène comme source d'énergie renouvelable. Michelle Hallack dirige l'équipe de l’Énergie et de la recherche sur l’hydrogène à la BID en s'appuyant sur sa solide expérience universitaire et professionnelle des 15 dernières années.

La Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement (BERD) a pris des engagements majeurs en matière de financement climatique. Dans cet épisode, la Déléguée commerciale en développement des affaires pour le financement climatique Line Poulin-Larivière rencontre Vincent Duijnhouwer pour comprendre l’approche de la BERD dans ce secteur.

The European Bank for reconstruction and development has made aggressive Climate Finance commitments. In this special episode, Climate Finance Trade Commissioner for Europe Rachel Soares interviews Vincent Duijnhouwer to talk about how the EBRD is approaching global climate finance. 

The second session of the Climate Finance Roundtable on May 25th has Paulo Martelli (FinDev Canada) and Christian Wray (JCM Power) switching roles from the first session and they are joined by Alexa Blain (Deetken Impact) to talk about the supply of capital in climate finance. In this session, these two Canadian firms share their experiences working with DFIs and provide best practices on how to develop strong relationships with these investors. 

Blended Finance plays a critical role in helping bridge the gap between the supply and demand of finance in climate project finance. Chris Clubb (Convergence Finance) moderates a critical discussion between blended finance thought leaders Kruskaia Sierra-Escalante, Matthieu Pegon (IDB Invest) and Robert Probyn (FCDO/UK) as a part of the Climate Finance Roundtable on May 26th. In this session, they share the catalytic role blended finance can play in making projects investable and provide warnings as to what blended finance is and is not.

In this final session of the Climate Finance Roundtable on May 27th, Faheem Noor Ali moderates a discussion on US and Canadian Climate Finance policy for emerging markets. Introductory remarks are made by Ambassador Patricia Fuller (Ambassador for Climate Change Government of Canada) and she is joined in a lively discussion with Dr. Sue Szabo (Global Affairs Canada), Elizabeth Lien (US Department of Treasury) and Aparna Shrivastava (US Development Finance Corporation). In this session, we learn about the opportunities and challenges in developing climate finance policy and how both governments are looking forward to climate finance commitments and how those commitments create an enabling environment for businesses. 

On May 25th, Christian Wray, CEO for JCM Power, moderated a panel with Paulo Martelli (FinDev Canada), Elizabeth Robberechts (IDB Invest) and Nuru Lama (International Finance Corporation) in the first session of the Embassy of Canada's Climate Finance Roundtable. Our guests discuss how IFIs and DFIs approach project investment opportunities, provide guidelines on their investment priorities and share insights on how to pitch to IFI investors.

Sean Whittaker, Principle Renewable Energy Specialist with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector financing arm of the World Bank Group.  Sean shared IFC’s perspectives on the opportunity for wind investment in Emerging Markets, opportunities for new technology and programs, and misconceptions about wind energy. 

Sean Whitaker, spécialiste principal pour les industries d’énergies renouvelables à la Société financière internationale, la fenêtre pour le secteur privé du Groupe de la Banque mondiale. Sean nous partage les perspectives de la Société financière internationale en ce qui a trait aux opportunités d’investissement dans le secteur éolien dans les marchés émergents, des opportunités liées à de nouveaux programmes et technologies, ainsi que des idées fausses à propos de l’éolien.

La Société financière internationale a déployé un total de 1,6 milliard de dollars en fonds concessionnels afin de soutenir 266 projets à fort impact dans plus de 50 pays au cours de la décennie précédant juin 2020. Jérémie Dumon, Officier Senior pour les Investissements et spécialiste du financement mixte à IFC, explique de quelle manière IFC utilise le financement mixte pour aider les projets susceptibles d'être financés et comment le Canada a aidé son organisation à utiliser le financement innovant.

The International Finance Corporation has deployed a total of $1.6 billion in concessional donor funds to support 266 high-impact projects in over 50 countries in the decade leading up to June 2020.  Kruskaia Sierra-Escalante, Senior Manager for Blended Finance at IFC, talks about how IFC uses blended finance to help impactful projects become investible and how Canada has helped support IFC in the use of innovative finance.

Stéphanie Émond est VP Impact et Opérations à FinDev Canada, l’institution canadienne de financement du développement qui a vu jour il y a environ trois ans. Lors de notre échange, elle nous informe à propos des secteurs et des zones géographiques prioritaires pour FinDev Canada. L’épisode nous permet de comprendre ce que l’organisation recherche en terme de financement de projets.

Paulo Martello is the CIO for FinDev Canada, Canada’s Development Finance Institution which came about three years ago.  In our conversation, Paulo shares the investment priority sectors and geographies for FinDev Canada and how to work with them for project finance.

Olivier Mussat, Directeur des investissements du Groupe des Énergies Globales de la Société financière internationale, gère une équipe qui supervise un portefeuille de plus de 11 milliards de dollars d'actifs énergétiques, y compris celui du gaz, de l'électricité et des infrastructures dans les marchés émergents. Lors de notre discussion, Olivier partage le point de vue de la SFI sur l’investissement dans le secteur de l’énergie ainsi que les secteurs dans lesquels l’organisation envisage d’investir au cours des prochaines années.

Olivier Mussat, CIO for the International Finance Corporation’s Global Energy Group, is a lead in a team that oversees a portfolio of over $11bn of energy assets, including renewable and conventional power plants, Gas and related energy infrastructure in emerging markets.  In our discussion, Olivier shares IFC’s perspective on Energy Investment and where it looks to deploy capital in the coming years.

Canada is a founding member of the World Bank Group, is the eleventh largest shareholder in the WBG and holds a permanent seat on the 25-member Board of Executive Directors. The Canadian Executive Director represents a constituency on the Board that includes Ireland and eleven Commonwealth Caribbean countries.  Laura Dorling, Senior Advisor to the Canadian Executive Director explains the role of the Executive Director’s office and the climate priorities of the World Bank Group.

Le Canada est un membre fondateur du Groupe de la Banque mondiale (GBM), il est le onzième plus grand actionnaire et occupe un siège permanent au Conseil d'administration, composé de 25 membres. Le Directeur Exécutif du Canada représente une circonscription au conseil d'administration qui comprend aussi l'Irlande et onze pays des Caraïbes du Commonwealth. Karim Morcos, Conseiller Principal du Directeur Exécutif Canadien, explique le rôle du bureau du Directeur Exécutif et les priorités climatiques du Groupe de la Banque mondiale.

Peter Mockel, Principal Industry Specialist for embedded systems with IFC’s Climate Business Department, talk to us about IFC’s approach to grid scale energy storage (battery) systems, as well as smart utility meters, building management systems, and lighting systems.  Peter's expertise informed the World Bank Group's 2018 commitment of$1 billion for a new global program to accelerate investments in battery storage for energy systems in developing and middle-income countries.

The International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group, has more-than doubling the share of climate-related investments from 15% of IFC's total business in 2013 to over 30% in 2020.  Shari Friedman, Acting Global Head for IFC's Climate Strategy and Business Unit, discusses IFC’s work in climate investing and describes how her unit works with investment officers across the institution to make climate-smart investment decisions.

Blended Finance plays a critical role in Climate Finance and making strong and impactful climate projects investible.  That is why part of Canada’s $2.65 billion Paris Commitment goes toward blended finance funds at multi lateral development banks, such as the Inter American Development Bank.  Pilar Carvajo, Investment Officer in the Blended Finance team at IDB Invest,  discusses blended finance, how it is used at IDB Invest and how the institution is active in climate finance. 

Le financement mixte joue un rôle essentiel dans le financement climatique et permet d'investir des projets climatiques forts et percutants. C’est la raison pour laquelle une partie de l’Engagement de Paris de $2.65 B du Canada est consacrée aux fonds de financement mixte des banques multilatérales de développement, comme la Banque interaméricaine de développement. Line Poulin-Larivière, déléguée commerciale au financement climatique basée à Ottawa, interviewe Matthieu Pegon, responsable du financement mixte chez IDB Invest, au sujet de ses perspectives sur le financement mixte et fournit des informations sur le Fonds canadien pour le climat.

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