The interplay of public and private financing.

In another special episode of The Energy Gang from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ed Crooks explores the challenges and opportunities of mobilizing climate finance to support the energy transition in emerging markets. With a focus on bridging the gap between ambition and action, this episode explores the nuances of climate finance, the critical role of project preparation, and the growing need for equity investment to unlock sustainable development.

As the "Finance COP", COP29 is under pressure to deliver concrete outcomes on climate finance. This episode highlights the urgent need for innovative funding solutions, greater public-private collaboration, and systemic reforms to ensure that financing reaches the countries and projects that need it most.

Raquel Moses of the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator emphasizes the importance of disaggregating climate finance into grants, equity, concessionary loans, and other forms of capital. She explains why clarity on funding types is critical to addressing bottlenecks in project development, particularly in the Caribbean and other emerging markets.

Ben Attia of Allied Climate Partners highlights the shortage of bankable projects in emerging markets and explains how his organization deploys philanthropic capital to de-risk early-stage infrastructure projects. By addressing first-loss capital and preparing projects for commercial investment, ACP helps bridge the gap between available funding and viable projects.

Raquel and Ben argue that addressing systemic issues, including the lack of early-stage equity investment, the complexity of aggregating small projects, and the risks associated with currency fluctuations in emerging markets are essential to unlocking the $1 trillion in annual climate finance needed to meet global goals.

In the final part of this episode, we talk to Jang Ping Thia of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to discuss how MDBs can support the energy transition in rapidly growing regions like Asia. He emphasizes the importance of pairing climate goals with economic development to align incentives and drive participation from the Global South.

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Live from COP29: Unlocking climate finance to drive the energy transition

Energy Gang