Guarantees for climate finance in the World Bank-IMF agenda

Please join the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and GeoEconomics Center on Monday, March 11 at 10:00 a.m. ET for a virtual discussion on mobilizing private investment in climate mitigation and adaptation in the Global South. Speakers will explore how public and private sector financial institutions can expand the use of guarantee instruments to accomplish this goal. They will also examine the World Bank’s latest reforms to expand, streamline, and bring new tools to its guarantee offerings.

There is growing awareness that the use of guarantees is the best way to leverage public funds to bring in major private investors, though they have been used sparingly in the past by the World Bank and other development institutions. The G20’s Independent Experts Group report, Strengthening Multilateral Development Banks, published last summer called for the World Bank to substantially increase guarantee issuances and to expand the role of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, an international financial institution that provides guarantees against losses from political risk on certain investments in developing countries already backed by the domestic government.

At the G20 Finance Ministerial in Sao Paulo last month, the World Bank announced a major initiative to streamline and triple its guarantee offerings by 2030, to provide one-stop shopping (“one roof, one menu”) for guarantees, and to introduce “new tools” including the possible use of portfolio guarantee instruments. The question is: will it be enough? Developed countries have committed to mobilizing $100 billion per year toward climate action, but there is an urgent need to stimulate private funding by an order of magnitude greater than this pledge.

During this discussion, experts will assess several existing proposals and recommendations, including the Emerging Markets Climate Investment Compact, on how innovative guarantee finance structures can be used to bring large institutional investors into new markets.

This conversation will take place virtually and will be broadcast on YouTube, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. To receive the event information, please register using the form on this page.

Opening remarks

George Frampton
Distinguished Fellow, Global Energy Center; Director, Transatlantic Climate Policy Project
Atlantic Council

Speakers

Junaid Kamal Ahmad
Vice President for Operations
MIGA

Ken Berlin
Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center; Director, Financing and Achieving Cost Competitive Climate Solutions Project
Atlantic Council

Claire Healy
Senior Associate
E3G

Remarks by

Chris Grant
Senior Manager, Research
Climate Policy Initiative

Sam Sherburn
Capital Mobilisation Policy Lead
GFANZ

Moderated by

Akshat Rathi
Senior Reporter, Climate
Bloomberg News

Closing remarks

George Frampton
Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center
Atlantic Council

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