From Climate Ambition to Implementation: Financing the Systems That Deliver
Climate finance debates usually start with the money: how much, from whom, and through which instrument. But much of what the transition requires cannot be financed one project at a time. Regional power systems, flood protection for an entire city or river basin, decarbonizing a city’s building stock, transforming food systems, and industrial hubs for green steel all depend on someone first deciding what gets built, in what sequence, and who carries the shared costs that no single investor owns.
Drawing on research and practice in climate finance and sustainable development, this session will explore what it takes to finance from the system plan. How can public, development, and private capital be aligned to finance shared infrastructure, allocate risks, and sequence investments? The discussion will identify practical approaches to financing system-wide transitions and accelerating implementation of the Paris Agreement.
Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition
Jahan Chowdhury, Chief and global technical lead, IFAD
Mahmoud Mohieldin, United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda
Issifi Boureima, Executive Secretary of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region
Lisa Sachs, Professor, Columbia Climate School and Director of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Alexis Abramson, moderator, Dean of the Columbia Climate School
