LEDS Finance Working Group: LEDS Finance Annual Event

With the LEDS Global Partnership Annual Event coming up in the Dominican Republic between the 14^th and 16^th of October, this update focuses on what the FWG would like to achieve at this event.

The LEDS Global Partnership Finance Working Group (FWG) promotes peer learning and best practice sharing of strategies to promote investment in low-emission infrastructure and projects. The FWG supports regional platforms on finance related topics, and leverages the global reach of the group to produce thought leadership pieces and facilitate action.

At the annual event the FWG has convened a variety of training sessions, which are in-line with the main thematic areas that we seek to focus upon over the coming 12 months. The training sessions, besides a training opportunity for participants, will be the basis for an engagement with LEDS-GP members, regional platforms, and other working groups to identify initiatives and sub-themes upon which to focus the efforts of the FWG moving forward.

The training sessions include:

• Introduction to Financial Instruments and Innovative Risk Mitigation Instruments (USAID/IADB):Participants will gain an overview of financial instruments used to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation actions as well as traditional and innovative risk mitigation instruments critical to address barriers to climate investment, particularly by the private sector.
• Investment Planning for Low Emission Development (World Bank / Climate Investment Funds):Participants will discuss how to effectively access and utilize climate finance by first designing an overall investment strategy to achieve national goals related to climate change.
• Innovative Solutions to Climate Finance: Blended Finance for private sector projects (World Bank / IFC): National capacities in the provision of resources to climate actions are evermore critical leading to the Paris negotiations. The objective of this training is to introduce the fundamental concepts and provide practical guidance in the utilization of an innovative financing solution - blended finance - to support private sector operations.
• How to mobilize private sector investment into low emission infrastructure, and the Green Climate Fund as a catalyst (ECN / GCF [tentative] / IADB): This training explores, using theoretical and practical examples, instruments to mobilize private investment, and efficiency, effectiveness and feasibility considerations. Using the example of the GCF, the training then showcases a practical example of how public sector funds can be used to catalyse private investments.

An additional topic area of the FWG that will be explored during the event is the Role of Institutional Investors in Financing Sustainable Energy (Bonds, YieldCo’s, Direct Investments).