INNOVATIVE CLIMATE FINANCE IN 2025: EVALUATING GUARANTEE MECHANISMS - The Global Energy Center will host a forward-looking conversation on the critical role of financial guarantees in scaling private investment in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) in 2025 and beyond.

Many left COP29 dissatisfied with the agreement reached that developed countries would provide $300 billion annually in funding to EMDEs by 2035, falling far short of the $1.3 trillion per year that EMDE countries requested. Developing countries want grant funding for projects, arguing that they cannot afford to take on additional debt from loans, even at concessional rates. But even if developed countries had pledged $1.3 trillion, estimates for the need for financing range from 1.4 to as high as $2.4 trillion year. Private investment is needed to close this gap, and loan guarantees are widely seen as the most efficient and cost effective way to de-risk and scale up private investments in energy, adaptation infrastructure, forests, agriculture, and biodiversity projects in EMDEs.

This session will consider the future of using guarantees for climate investing in 2025 and beyond, including how they may be deployed without an EMDE guarantee, the impacts that COP29 outcomes and new US leadership may have on climate finance flows, and updates on our Emerging Market Climate Investment Compact (EMCIC) project.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 12/16/2024