The Lab and our partners will be hosting or speaking at a series of events at COP23 that bring together high-level leaders from the Lab network to share lessons learned about unlocking finance to address climate change.

Climate finance: Emerging instruments for mitigation in agriculture

November 9, 2017, 11:30-13:00
Meeting Room 10, Bonn Zone

Hosted by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), Climate Policy Initiative, and the Climate-Smart Lending Platform in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), this panel event will focus on developing countries’ urgent need for finance to meet climate change mitigation commitments in the agriculture sector. Speakers will describe emerging instruments for climate-contingent finance in agriculture and identify needs for evidence and action to support them.

Speakers and panelists include:

  • Angela Falconer, Associate Director, Climate Policy Initiative
  • Gabriela Weber de Morais, Environmental and Social Compliance Associate, Finance in Motion
  • Mark Ellis-Jones, CEO, F3 Life
  • Alex Mulisa, Coordinator, Rwanda’s Green Fund (FONERWA)
  • Ash Sharma, Senior Adviser to the NAMA Facility
  • Lini Wollenberg, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
  • Elizabeth (Lizzie) Teague, Environmental Performance Manager, Root Capital
  • Juan Chang, Senior Forest and Land Use Specialist, Green Climate Fund
  • Fraser Brown, Climate-Smart Lending Platform

More information can be found by clicking here.

Resilience as a Business: How the Private Sector Can Turn Climate Risk into Business and Investment

November 10, 2017, 17:30-20:00
Hotel Hilton, Bonn

Acknowledging the pivotal role of the private sector in mainstreaming adaptation and driving the resilience agenda, this panel will bring together corporate stakeholders and private investor to explore how to further develop the business ecosystem and support investable resilience solutions. The panel will look at:

1) how private sector companies can attract financing and investments for their innovative solutions to climate threats;
2) how corporations effectively analyze and address risk within their supply chains, and
3) how financial institutions and investors can fill the financing gap and identify new investment instruments.

  • Introductory Remarks by Representative from Nordic Development Fund
  • Moderator: Amal-Lee Amin, Chief, Climate Change and Sustainability, Inter-American Development Bank.
  • Representative from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (TBC)
  • Mari Yoshitaka, Chief Consultant of Clean Energy Finance Division, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd.
  • Barbara Buchner, Executive Director of Climate Finance Program, Climate Policy Initiative
  • Jay Koh, Founder and Chair of GARI, and Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group
  • Nik Steinberg, Director Climate Analytics at Four Twenty Seven, Inc.

The panel discussion will be followed by social networking at a cocktail reception at 7:00pm. RSVP to proadapt@fomin.org.

Mobilizing private capital for the most challenging sectors, markets, and technologies

November 13, 2017, 18:30–20.00
Meeting Room 10, Bonn Zone

Although investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation are flowing, meeting the Paris Agreement goals will require a huge increase in finance. A substantial portion will need to come from the private sector. While the business case for investment in large-scale wind and solar technologies is growing, sectors such as adaptation, land use, distributed solar, geothermal, Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), and energy efficiency face a range of barriers preventing greater private sector involvement. Enabling environments and conducive policy frameworks can help to unlock the transformation needed across the economy.

Developing ambitious policies and mobilizing financing are needed to achieve the transformation towards low carbon and climate resilient development pathways. It is especially important to address the need for mobilizing private capital for the most challenging sectors, markets, and technologies.

This side event, hosted jointly by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), and the Observatoire du Sahara et du Sahel (OSS), presents successful approaches and innovative models to achieve transformation. High-level leaders from international organizations, government, financial institutions, and the private sector will discuss emerging solutions on how to get finance to flow for the next wave of investment addressing climate change and implementing the Paris Agreement.

This event will be translated into French. Appetizers will be served following.

Moderator: Dr. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative

Panelists include:

  • Ayaan Adam, Director of the Private Sector Facility, Green Climate Fund
  • Dr. Abdoulaye DIA, Executive Secretary, Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAGGW)
  • Hon. Amedi Camara, Minister of Environment, Mauritania
  • Jay Koh, Managing Director, The Lightsmith Group (CRAFT proponent)
  • Juliana Santiago, Head of the Amazon Fund, BNDES
  • Dr. Jorge Wolpert Kuri, Director General, CONAVI (National Housing Commission Mexico)

Introduction by Khatim Kherraz, Executive Secretary, OSS

Closing by Vera Scholz, Head of Department, Climate, Environment, Infrastructure, GIZ

Financing climate resilience in developing countries 

November 13, 2017,  11:45– 12:45
European Pavilion, Bonn Zone

From 2003 and 2013, natural disasters caused $1.5 trillion in economic damages worldwide, with $550 billion in developing countries. As climate change worsens, so will these challenges, with sectors like agriculture and infrastructure particularly vulnerable. There are emerging solutions for scaling private finance for climate resilience. For example, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance has launched financial instruments that have raised close to $1 billion for climate projects. This panel jointly organized by CPI and OECD will bring together experts to share emerging tools and lessons learned to drive private finance for climate resilience in developing countries.

High-level welcoming remarks: Jorge Moreira da Silva, Director, Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD

Confirmed panelists:

  • Ayaan Adam, Director of the Private Sector Facility, Green Climate Fund
  • Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative
  • Saleemul Huq, Senior Fellow, Climate Change, IIED and Director, International Centre for Climate Change & Development
  • Astrid Manroth, Director Transformative Energy Partnerships, African Development Bank Group (AfDB)
  • Peter Odhengo, Climate Finance Policy Advisor, National Treasury, Kenya
  • Josh Sawislak, Global Director of Resilience, Aecom

Moderated by Yvo de Boer, Partner, SRI Executive and former Executive Secretary, UNFCCC

Financing Brazil’s NDCs through innovation: The experience of the Brasil Lab

November 14, 2017,  11:00– 12:10
Brazil Pavilion, Bonn Zone

Brazil aims to reduce emissions by 37% by 2025, mostly through changes in its land use and energy sectors. Like in many emerging economies however, funding to meet these targets remains a challenge. In October 2016, a group of public and private investors – the Brasil Innovation Lab for Climate Finance – was established to tackle this challenge. The Brasil Lab identifies, develops, and supports the implementation of transformative climate finance instruments that can drive investment toward Brazil’s national climate priorities.

In its first cycle, the Brasil Lab has developed and endorsed three innovative financial instruments that have the potential to unlock investment in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable cattle ranching.

This panel event will bring together public and private sector members of the Brasil Lab, finance innovators, and climate finance experts to discuss the lessons learned from Brasil Lab’s first cycle, the challenges and opportunities of investing in climate finance in Brazil, and the key areas for climate action in the country.

This event will also be an opportunity to learn more about the currently open call for ideas for new instruments that can address the priority sectors identified in Brazil’s nationally determined contribution. Selected instruments from this call will be developed in the 2018 cycle of the Brasil Lab, receiving significant analytical and business development support from a wide range of experts.

Introductory remarks from: Ambassador J. Antonio Marcondes, Under Secretary-General for the Environment, Energy, Science and Technology, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil

Confirmed Panelists:

  • Amal-Lee Amin, Chief of the Climate Change Division, Inter-American Development Bank
  • Pedro Moura Costa, Founder and President, BVRio Environmental Exchange Platform
  • Anna Lucia Horta, Business and Investment Officer, the Nature Conservancy
  • Paulo Todaro, Managing Partner, Albion Capital

Moderator: Dr. Barbara Buchner, Head of Brasil Lab and Executive Director of Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative

Financing Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure through Innovation – Lessons from the Lab

November 14, 2017,  13:00-14:15
UK Pavilion, Bonn Zone

Over one billion people still live without access to electricity, while another 780 million lack access to clean water. As investors and decision makers look to build sustainable, resilient infrastructure that meets the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, financing has emerged as a key challenge.

The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab) identifies, develops, and accelerates innovative sustainable financing solutions. In just under three years, Lab instruments have mobilized USD 977 million for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable infrastructure in developing countries.

This panel event will bring together high-level public and private sector leaders from the Lab to discuss best practices and lessons learned from their experience unlocking investment for sustainable energy and infrastructure.

Introductory remarks:

  • Peter Betts, Director, International Climate and Energy, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK government
  • Carola van Rijnsoever, Ambassador for Sustainable Development, the Netherlands

Panel:

  • Lorenzo Bernasconi, Senior Associate Director, The Rockefeller Foundation
  • Peter Betts, Director, International Climate and Energy, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, UK government
  • Harald Hirschhofer, Senior Advisor, Currency Exchange Fund (TCX)
  • Andrew Johnstone, CEO Climate Fund Managers
  • Karsten Sach, Director General Climate Policy, European & International Policy, Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), Germany

Moderated by Dr. Barbara Buchner, Director of the Lab Secretariat and Executive Director, Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative

Impact investing: the next frontier for climate

November 15, 2017, 16:00-17:00
World Climate Summit
Kameha Grand Hotel, Bonn

While progress has been made in scaling up capital in ways that address climate change, gaps remain. Blended finance and impact investing are increasingly seen as potential tools to help achieve both social and financial returns. However, it can be difficult for investors to sort out the best, most transformative solutions that also achieve desired return on investment. This Climate Policy Initiative-led panel event brings together high-level public and private sector actors from the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance and other groups to share their experience, solutions, and best practices for unlocking impact investment for addressing climate change.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Lorenzo Bernasconi, Senior Associate Director, The Rockefeller Foundation
  • Upendra Bhatt, Co-founder, cKinetics and Director, cKers Finance Board
  • Abyd Karmali, Managing Director, Climate Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
  • Andrew Johnstone, CEO of Climate Fund Managers
  • Alex Mulisa, Head of FONERWA, the Rwanda Green Fund

Moderated by Dr. Barbara Buchner, Director of the Lab Secretariat and Executive Director, Climate Finance, Climate Policy Initiative

More information, or to register for the Summit, click here.