OPIC Joins Broad Group of Development Institutions in Agreeing to Scale-up Investments in the Green Economy

(OPIC) Representatives of 15 Development Finance Institutions and Development Banks (DFIs and DBs) agree to collaborate in substantially scaling-up green investment activities in developing countries and emerging economies;

With USD 18 billion in new commitments for clean investments in developing countries and emerging economies in 2012 assembled DFIs and DBs represent core supporters of the development of a green economy;

Frankfurt, Germany - Today the CEOs and high-level representatives of 15 development finance institutions and development banks (jointly DFIs and DBs) met in Frankfurt, Germany and agreed to enhance their collective efforts to support green investments in developing countries and emerging economies. The first-ever gathering of DFI/DB leaders on the subject comes at a time of growing momentum to address climate change and scale-up clean investments via DFIs and DBs. In addition, the United States government, the World Bank, and the European Investment Bank have recently separately announced comprehensive changes to their coal policies.

The assembled DFIs and DBs already represent a powerful financing block, having collectively committed more than USD $18 billion in green finance in 2012 alone. In agreeing on the scale of the challenge, leaders agreed to improve the effectiveness of their green finance activities and to work toward the broader goal of developed countries collaborating with the private sector to collectively mobilize $100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of the developing countries.

Leaders discussed a host of topics including; (a) mechanisms to further increase support for clean energy investments; (b) options and criteria to reduce support for the most polluting projects; (c) tools to increase demand for clean DFI/DB finance in developing countries; and (d) pathways to increasing transparency of portfolio-wide carbon emissions and investments in climate technologies reporting.

“This was an important meeting at an important time. The DFIs and DBs, working with our private sector partners, hold the keys to a large part of the climate finance solution. The challenges of transitioning to a green economy are far outweighed by benefits of job creation, innovation, and poverty alleviation,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, President and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). “We must seize this historic opportunity by expanding cooperation between our institutions and challenging ourselves to do more around this critical vision.”

"We already can draw on many years of experience in green finance and we will therefore make efforts to help to provide the capital needed in emerging economies and developing countries to invest in the scale-up of their national green economies. Today’s meeting is an important step and will give a strong signal to our partner countries including their development banks", Dr Kloppenburg, member of KfW’s executive board, added.

A summary of the day’s conclusions can be found at here.

Development Finance Institutions and Development Banks from Developed Countries

DFIs and DBs represented in today’s meeting: AFD – Agence Francaise de Developpement; France; BIO - Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries, Belgium; BSTDB – Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, CDC Group, UK; DEG Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, Germany; FINNFUND – Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation; FMO – Netherlands Development Finance Company; IFU – The Investment Fund for Developing Countries of Denmark; JICA – Japan International Cooperation Agency; KfW Development Bank, Germany; Norfund – Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries; OeEB – The Development Bank of Austria; OPIC – Overseas Private Investment Corporation, U.S.; SOFID –Sociedade para o Financiamento do Desenvolvimento, Portugal; VEB – Vnesheconombank, Russian Federation (in alphabetical order).