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 programme enabled investments of USD 680 millionof investment in sustainable projects and USD 634 million of Sustainable Energy Finance loans were distributed by participating banks.
- Since 2022, the programme continuously provides advisory and support to leading private sector banks with bond issuances and funding utilisation per IFC’s climate eligibility criteria. The IFC team for instance supported Egypt’s first private-sector green bond, launched in 2021 with $100 million in support from IFC, financing green buildings and energy-efficient water management projects, as well as the first Sustainability bond for US$500m issued by AAIB - Egypt’s third largest private sector bank.
- The programme delivered market wide climate risk training, digital learning for over 12,000 students, and South–South exchanges with peers in Latin America on sustainable finance regulation, taxonomy, and capital markets.
- On hard-to-abate sectors, the programme is strengthening transition readiness, by combining AI enabled analytics, benchmarking, and forward-looking transition scenarios to inform bank decision making and climate aligned lending.
- The team also supported the Sustainable Finance Guiding Principles issued nationally with the Central Bank of Egypt.
Mexico:
- Strengthening national sustainable finance policies. The 30x30 Programme supported the draft and publication of Mexico’s Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, a national classification system that helps companies and investors identify climate-aligned activities. In the past semester, IFC launched a partnership with the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM) to help commercial banks apply the taxonomy criteria and integrate climate-risk analysis into lending decisions. IBRD supported Banxico on the Climate Risk Management Guide and Climate Disclosure Guidance Note, including the finalisation-to-launch workplan and the rollout of surveys with banks and brokerage houses to inform the guidance products.
- Increasing access to sustainable finance through capital markets. The Programme aims to expand the capital market in Mexico beyond large companies by preparing new mid-size issuers to enter, and strengthening investors’ knowledge and appetite. On the issuers side, the Programme executed three cohorts of training by Carbon Trust on sustainability-linked and transition bonds, reaching more than 60 companies in total. IFC signed a new advisory engagement with the Stock Exchange BIVA to launch a pioneer Governance for Sustainability designation, that will strengthen corporate governance and climate-risk transparency among Mexican companies and help mid-sized firms access diversified financing through debt capital markets.
- A key milestone in 2025 was the USD 41.7 million Sustainability-Linked Bond issued by Active Leasing, supported by IFC advisory. The bond links financing conditions to both climate and governance targets and attracted strong institutional investor demand, creating a model that can be replicated by other non-bank financial institutions that finance small and medium-sized enterprises. On the investor side, a pilot training with the CFA Institute trained representatives from 8 of Mexico’s 10 pension funds on climate risk and environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis, strengthening investor demand for credible sustainable financial products. The Programme also supported with scholarships more than 200 potential issuers and investors to participate in BIVA’s and the CFA Institute trainings.
- Accompanying the transformation of financial institutions. The Programme established new partnerships with financial sector associations, including the ASOFOM (Association of Non-Bank Financial Institutions), to support sustainable finance practices across the sector. IFC also supported Santander to launch the Mexico’s first green mortgage product, based on the EDGE Sustainable Building certification.
- Sectorial research and raising awareness. IFC published a study with Endeavor Mexico showing how sustainability practices help high-growth startups increase efficiency, attract talent and access diversified financing such as venture capital, loans and public debt. IFC is also partnering with the Mexican Sustainable Finance Council to support the annual sustainable finance conference.
- Supporting priority climate sectors. The initiative promotes financing solutions aligned with Mexico’s climate commitments, including work on a roadmap for distributed renewable energy financing and specialised training delivered with the Renewables Academy (RENAC) to strengthen financial institutions’ capacity to fund renewable energy projects.
Philippines:
- The programme has achieved its target with the regulatory development with the Philippine Sustainable Finance Taxonomy launched and continues to support the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on taxonomy implementation, physical climate risk assessment, and climate scenario analysis.
- The programme in the Philippines completed the cohorts of the Green Energy Finance Specialist (GEFS) Programme and a two-day training event on transition finance was organised for the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2025.
- The programme also provided hands on support to the SEC on capital market rulemaking, including the review of the Green Equity Guidelines, which were issued in September 2025 as the first green equity framework in the ASEAN region. This upstream regulatory engagement helped establish the enabling environment for green equity transactions and was followed by IFC’s US$100 million green equity investment in Maynilad Water.
- Advisory support is provided to multiple private sector financial institutions, including a multi year climate advisory engagement for a locally established banking corporation, which delivered a “Train the Trainer” programme for over 100 staff, targeted sessions for senior management and C suite, and IFRS S1/S2 readiness support.
South Africa:
- The programme 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 BASA.
- The programme is supporting climate smart agriculture (CSA) by operationalising the CSA roadmap endorsed by BASA. Engagements with FirstRand and AgriSA are intended to focus on CSA capacity building and alignment with the Climate Bonds Initiative Resilience Taxonomy, creating a proof of concept for scaling climate finance in agriculture.
- The programme has so far facilitated IFC investment of USD 1.27 billion, largely overshooting the initial target of $600m (212%). This scale up was achieved through sustained upstream and advisory support to systemic banks and specialised lenders with climate finance concentrated in renewable energy and green buildings.
- 30 by 30 Zero has facilitated US$178 million in climate thematic bonds, approaching its US$200 million target in South Africa. To date, the collaboration with the JSE included a dedicated study commissioned with Genesis Analytics to identify barriers to thematic bond issuance, validating issuer pipelines through multiple review sessions, and confirming the issuance of the Industrial Development Corporation’s sustainability bond as a concrete market outcome linked to programme support.