WASHINGTON, D.C., June 24, 2010—At meetings of the multilateral Climate Investment Funds (CIF) governing bodies here this week, three groups of low income and developing countries received support to engage in climate action which will transform their approach to development and poverty reduction. The three groups were selected under the target programs of the CIF Strategic Climate Fund (SCF).
Ethiopia, Honduras, Kenya, Maldives, Mali, and Nepal were chosen to undertake pilot programs to scale up renewable energy, transform their energy sectors and shift the market toward renewables. These low income countries are the first to be selected as pilots by the Program for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP). They were chosen on recommendation of an independent Expert Group, on the basis of their willingness to undertake a transformational program for renewable energy development, their potential capacity for implementation, and suitable conditions for scaling-up renewable energy.
“We are very pleased that the SREP Sub-Committee has recommended these countries as the first pilots for the SREP,” stated Mafalda Duarte, African Development Bank representative. “These countries have an abundance of renewable resources but – at the very time when they are in dire need of such energy services for their development – they do not have the means or the capacity to develop them into a real source of sustainable energy. With their commitment to undertake these pilots, they are taking on a bold challenge, and we believe the SREP support to these low income countries is central to their success. Furthermore, we will welcome the momentum toward building a global knowledge base which these countries’ work will generate.”
Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Mexico also got the go-ahead to serve as pilots for the Forest Investment Program (FIP), to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and promote sustainable management of their forests. They join Burkina Faso, Ghana, Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Peru as pilots already selected by a FIP independent expert group, because of their potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to deforestation or forest degradation (REDD), or to lead to further conservation, sustainable forest management or enhanced forest carbon stocks.
Finally, Bolivia, Cambodia, Mozambique, Tajikistan, and Yemen– which are already undertaking activities under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) – were each awarded $1.5 million to begin preparation of their national-level Strategic Programs for Climate Resilience (SPCR) and build capacity for implementing them. The SPCR will define the needed portfolio of investments for each country to undertake integration of climate risk and resilience into their core development planning and implementation, scale up climate action, and initiate transformational change toward climate resilient development.
“The combined set of endorsements during these CIF meetings sends a powerful signal that climate action is truly getting underway in low income countries through the CIF,” said Christoffer Bertelsen, Denmark, co-chair of the PPCR Sub-Committee. “The momentum is shifting now away from the conference room table and toward project implementation, which is also strongly needed. Over the coming year, we will hopefully begin to hear more directly about results on the ground as the work of the CIF ramps up and we begin reaping early knowledge.”
The Climate Investment Funds are a unique pair of financing instruments designed to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development through scaled-up financing channeled through the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, and World Bank Group. The two CIF funds are the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF).
