The nexus between regional connectivity infrastructure and climate financing has not received the level of attention it deserves. Mobilizing finance for climate-smart green ports, roads and railways, regional power pools, and grid transmission systems connecting renewable energy generation and consumers is critical to achieving the Paris Agreement goals, the NDC targets, and national net-zero strategies.

The Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), Egyptian Ministry of Finance, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, World Bank, World Resources Institute and V20 (Vulnerable Twenty Group) co-hosted a series of four workshops between June and October 2022 and a concluding high-level event on 9 November, 2022. The workshop series shared practical experiences - including from developing country governments, emerging market financiers, Multilateral Development Banks and global think tanks - on how to design and finance connectivity infrastructure projects that are ‘climate-smart’, minimizing carbon emissions and maximizing climate resilience. The four workshops generated innovative thinking by global experts in climate finance and connectivity infrastructure on how to open up new investment flows for projects. The workshop series attracted 462 participants from 65 economies and 23 international organizations.

The series concluded with a high-level seminar during the ‘Finance Day’ of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) on 9 November where government ministers and leaders of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) discussed key lessons learned, practical experiences and effective policies for mobilizing finance to implement climate-smart connectivity infrastructure projects, and the unique and effective role MCDF can play in this context.

Read more about the individual virtual workshops and the COP27 high-level seminar below:

You can watch our short video about climate-smart connectivity here. If you are interested in looking at the workshop presentations and other materials, please join our JIGSAW platform by emailing jigsaw@themcdf.org. If you want to attend similar future events organized by MCDF, please join our mailing list here. Subscribe here.