Bridging Green Infrastructure and Finance

Development and the changing climate will both require a substantial increase in green infrastructure investment over the next few decades in emerging market and developing countries (EMDEs). The need for investments collides with limited fiscal space in EMDEs, an obstacle that has been aggravated by the multiple shocks faced by those economies in the last few years. At the same time, those investments potentially dovetail with excess financial savings in advanced economies (AEs). In this chapter, we explore how a bridge connecting excess savings in AEs and green infrastructure investment in EMDEs might be built.

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Risk mitigation tools to crowd in private investment in green technologies

In order to close the financing gap in green technologies, finding new mechanisms to enhance the participation of the private sector, combined with that of the public sector, in financing sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure is a must. In this context, some unlisted instruments are going to be needed to enhance financing of green infrastructures. Besides, the development of properly structured projects, with risks and returns in line with the preferences of the different types of investors and financial agents that make up the ecosystem of financing sources, would also help to close the private financing gap in infrastructure.

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Matchmaking Private Finance and Green Infrastructure

The contrast between the scarcity of investments in infrastructure – particularly in non-advanced economies – and the excess of savings invested in liquid and low-return assets in the global economy deserves to be confronted. Greening infrastructure in non-advanced economies would benefit from being able to attract greenbacks into the business. Building a bridge between private finance and (green) infrastructure would need the development of pipeline of projects with homogeneous regulations and standards, as well as with minimum mismatch between risks and comfort of private investors to manage them along project stages.

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Africa’s Infrastructure Finance

Africa’s infrastructure investment gap has widened over time. Addressing the mismatch between developed countries’ “global savings glut” and African countries’ “investment dearth” might be a win-win. To facilitate that matching, some risk mitigation tools can be used. In this brief, we propose that by providing such risk mitigation tools, development institutions and governments can crowd-in private investment rather than crowd them out by providing full financing.

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