World Bank Climate Investment Funds

The World Bank announced the approval of 2 large Climate Investment funds in July 2008, the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), which are to serve largely to aid developing countries with the transition to a low-carbon economy, but will also provide substantial funds for adaptation. The rationale is to provide developing countries with access to adequate financial resources and appropriate technology to respond to climate change. The objectives of the funds are to:

• Provide incentives for scaled-up action and transformational change.
• Promote international cooperation on climate change to support progress towards a post-2012 agreement.
• Provide experience and lessons through learning by doing.

The CTF is designed to promote scaled up demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technologies in power sector, transportation, and energy efficiency in buildings, industry and agriculture. As of July 2011 the CTF has funds of $1.9bn

The SCF will provide financing to pilot new development approaches or to scale-up activities aimed at a specific climate change challenge through targeted programs. It will also provide financing for targetted programmes and provide the opportunity to share and disseminate lessons learned. The first program to be included in the SCF will be the Pilot Programme on Climate Resilience (PPCR) to pilot national level actions for enhancing climate resilience in a few highly vulnerable countries. As of July 2011 the SCF has funds of $4.5bn.

In creating the funds, and in support of the Bali Action Plan, participants took care to recognize the primacy of the UNFCCC in global climate negotiations, and to support those negotiations. All funds and programs under the CIF have a sunset clause (i.e they cease after a post-2012 agreement is operational) in order not to prejudice UNFCCC deliberations regarding the future of the climate change regime.

For the latest information on these funds please visit the Climate Investment Funds website.

Pilot Programme on Climate Resilience (PPCR)

The PPCR aims to deliver programmatic funding in 5-10 highly vulnerable countries to support country-led action on climate resilience. It looks to build on the NAPAs, complement existing sources of funding for adaptation and provide quick lessons on how to support climate resilience in national development planning. Two phases are foreseen under the PPCR:

• Phase 1 provides technical assistance and capacity building to integrate climate resilience into national development planning and financing
• Phase 2 to provide additional financial resources to help implement public and private sector investment plans as identified in the climate resilient development plans.

The 9 countries chosen as pilot projects for the PPCR are: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Nepal Niger, Tajikistan, Yemen and Zambia.

Please see the World Bank Climate Investment Fund pages for more the latest details on these funds, or the extremely useful Climate Funds Update website for comprehensive information about international climate finance.