The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance

Climate Objective
Adaptation
Mitigation
Cross-cutting
Sectors and Themes
Agriculture
Cities
Disaster Risk Reduction
Energy
Industry and Infrastructure
Oceans and Coasts
Transport
Type of Support Provider
Multilateral
Type of Recipient
Private sector
Fund Size

$384 mn invested by Lab Members institutions, $1.4 bn invested by private investors

Co-financing Requirement
Yes
Trustee or Administrator
Climate Policy Initiative
Contact Information
Countries
Region
East Asia and Pacific
Europe and Central Asia
Middle East and North Africa
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa

The Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance (the Lab) is a public-private initiative that aims to drive billions of dollars of private investment into climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries by fast-tracking the development of promising ideas to implementation-ready projects through identifying, developing, and piloting transformative climate finance instruments.

Developed countries have committed to jointly mobilize USD 100 billion per year in climate finance to developing countries by 2020, from public, private, and alternative sources, in the context of meaningful mitigation and transparency of action. The Lab contributes to this collective effort by identifying and developing transformational proposals that will mobilize private investment at scale.

The Lab catalyzes this process by drawing on experience and expertise from around the world to identify, design, and pilot the next generation of climate finance instruments. These instruments provide concrete solutions to financing challenges faced in real projects, and can build new markets, attract new investors, and help to unlock billions of dollars in new climate-friendly investment in developing countries. Eligible countries are able to access support through the Lab network, not directly.

The Lab is part of broader government and private sector efforts to scale up climate finance. It aims to respond to the urgency of the climate challenge by accelerating promising climate finance proposals so that they are ready to implement. By quickly developing project-ready solutions that can be implemented in the short term it aims to complement existing processes. The Lab stands out for its goal of moving quickly from talk to action.

Support Provider

Bloomberg Philanthropies, Government of Canada, FinDev Canada, German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, U.S. Department of State

Purpose of Support
Project and program implementation
Funding Type
Loans (concessional and market-rate)
Monitoring and Reporting Procedures

With the completion of Phase 3 of the Lab Cycle, the progress of pilots will be monitored and reported on by the Secretariat on a bi-annual basis. The Secretariat will maintain contact with pilot implementers and continue to publicize new updates and announcements under the Lab brand. Permission to use Lab materials and branding will be agreed and clarified.

  • In addition the Secretariat will provide ongoing support to proponents of instruments endorsed by the Lab, this support can include (but is not limited to):
  • Leading ongoing conversations and connections with Lab members and others in the Lab network
  • Active management of multi-donor relationships, especially when these donors are within the Lab network
  • Ad hoc analytical support, within a budget determined with the proponents (depending on funding)
  • Secretariat support provided for refining funding proposals
  • Expertise provided for financial modelling, as funders, stakeholders and actors change in the pre-pilot or pilot stage
  • Communications and external marketing support as necessary
Organizational and Decision Making Structure

The Lab Principals are high-level experts in climate finance from governments, pension funds, investment banks, project developers and development finance institutions in developing and developed countries. Their expertise and experience informs the identification and development of innovative finance instruments.

  1. Climate Policy Initiative serves as The Lab Secretariat.The Lab Principals have nominated Lab Advisors, who will support them in their role and contribute institutional expertise to the Lab in order to design, stress test, and advise on the identification of instruments.
  2. The Lab criteria for idea selection and development are the following:
  3. Actionable: An instrument is actionable when it identifies (1) the type of entity(ies) that could implement it, (2) the pathway towards implementation, including the timeframe, activities, and key milestones, and (3) possible challenges to implementation and related management strategies.
  4. Innovative: An instrument is innovative when it demonstrates the ability to address, directly or indirectly, barriers to private climate finance that (1) have not yet been addressed or (2) that will be addressed more effectively compared to other instruments in the market.
  5. Catalytic: An instrument is catalytic when it demonstrates potential to (1) mobilize private climate capital within a sizeable market, (2) be scaled up or replicated in other contexts and, (3) achieve socioeconomic, development, and environmental impacts.
  6. Financially Sustainable: An instrument is financially sustainable when it identifies (1) a strategy to phase out public financial support, thereby achieving market viability and (2) possible challenges to achieving its intended objectives and related management strategies.
Eligibility Criteria

Projects should be focused on developing countries.

Eligible Countries

Global

Information on how to

The first phase of a new Lab Cycle commences with an international ‘call for ideas’, with the aim to crowd-source innovative ideas for concept development. Ideas are submitted by Idea Proponents acting in an individual capacity; including experts and entrepreneurs from public institutions, the private sector, and civil society such as think-tanks and academics.

Submissions received after the official deadline or those that are incomplete will not be considered. All submissions will be reviewed by the Secretariat using standard criteria, and a list of ideas that meet the minimum criteria will be compiled. Proponents select which Lab program they wish to apply for (Global Lab, India Lab, Fire Awards), though the Secretariat reserves the right to suggest re-allocation to one of the other Lab programs which may be more relevant, in accordance with each program’s criteria.

Lab Advisors, in consultation with their Principals, will meet to review the list of submissions that have met the minimum criteria and apply a voting procedure to select instruments to take forward to the next phase.

It is important to note that the Lab does not finance projects directly, but rather develops projects along with proponents and then donors decide if they would like to fund the projects.

See more information here.