Scale up climate finance through the financial sector – “30 by 30 Zero”

The implementation of NDCs in emerging markets requires vast funding amounts, for which the financial sector plays a critical role. However, numerous aspects, such as limited under-standing of climate financing opportunities and a lack of consistent policies, have so far pre-vented sufficient mobilisation of funds. To increase climate lending, the project supports the creation of domestic markets for climate financing in the partner countries. It follows a holistic approach, working at the political, market and financial institutions levels. This includes the alignment of financial sector strategies to support NDC implementation. In addition, by 2030, the share of climate lending in the participating banks' total credit portfolio shall be significantly increased, while climate and carbon-related risks are reduced. Finally, the project fosters climate investments through the development of domestic green bond markets.

Project data

Countries: Egypt, Mexico, Philippines, South Africa
IKI funding: 50,000,000.00 €
Duration: 01/2021 till 12/2028
Status: open
Implementing organisation: International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Political Partner: Department of Finance - Philippines

Ministry of Finance and Public Credit - Mexico

National Treasury

The Central Bank of Egypt
Implementing Partner: The World Bank Group

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State of implementation/results

Egypt:
- The Program enabled investments of USD 470 million so far.
- the program supported leading private sector banks with bond issuances and funding utilization per IFC’s climate eligibility criteria.
- The team continued to lend capacity building support to the largest private sector bank on emissions reductions and green energy financing in carbon intensive economic sectors in Egypt.
- The team also conducted a review of green portfolios to identify climate finance baseline and potential green investment, as well as delivered multiple trainings and workshops to bank staff and management members.
- Finally, an Environmental & Social (E&S) diagnostic report was produced for the third largest state-owned bank which identified gaps in existing policies and procedures, and recommendations for E&S management systems.
Mexico:
- Sustainable Finance Regulations & Policies: The team continued engagement with public institutions and financial authorities to advance sustainable finance regulations, aligned with the $1 billion Development Policy Loan and Mexico’s new government administration.
- Sustainable Agriculture Finance: The program partnered with the Ministry of Finance to enhance small farmers’ access to finance through Electronic Warehouse Receipts (eWRs) and proposed integrating a green tag into eWRs.
- Capital Markets & Sustainable Investments: The team launched an advisory mission to support the first sustainability-linked bond (SLB) issued by a financial institution in Mexico to expand sustainable SME financing as well as participated in key industry events to promote sustainable capital markets. A second cohort of SLB and Transition Bond training with Carbon Trust and BIVA was set up and collaboration with the CFA Institute resulted in a bespoke course on "Climate Risk, Valuation, and Investing", for institutional investors.
- Capacity-Building and Advisory for Financial Institutions: The program supported Santander on Green Building certification and an NBFI’s first green leasing initiative and saw the launch of a sustainable finance course with ABM and CMFS, as well as continued collaboration with ASOFOM to promote sustainability and climate finance among NBFIs.
- Scaling Up Renewable Energy Finance: The team developed a roadmap to scale financing for Renewable Energy Distributed Generation projects and sought advise from external legal and energy experts to align recommendations with Mexico’s evolving regulatory landscape.
Philippines:
- The 3rd cohort of the Green Energy Finance Specialist (GEFS) Program is currently underway with a week-long training scheduled in April 2025.
- In December 2024, the team completed a climate diagnostic report for a bank and provided a training needs assessment on green sustainable banking.
South Africa:
- The program continues to build its reputation as it supports key market stakeholders such as the Bankers Association South Africa (BASA), Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the systemic banks, and the Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI), a public private dialogue platform chaired by the National Treasury, hosted by BASAThe program has so far facilitated IFC investment of $680m against a program target of $600m – with the potential to increase due to a new Risk Sharing Facility (RSF) for FirstRand. It will cover eligible SME facilities including climate smart agriculture (CSA) projects. The total portfolio covered by this investment amounts to around US$100m, with a portion dedicated to climate finance projects, including CSA. This investment builds on 30x30 SA upstream work on CSA with FirstRand. The achievement highlights the close, symbiotic relationship of IFC’s US/AS and IS teams in South Africa.