The CIF Partnership Forum provided one of the first opportunities for stakeholders, including NGOs, private sector representatives and Indigenous Peoples, to inform the design of the CIF. In order to capture some of the debates, discussions and perspectives, Stakeholder Forum hosted a series of small roundtable discussions tackling the big questions surrounding each of the programme areas.

Fiu Elisera

    Forests, freedom and finance

Deforestation accounts for approximately 18% of global carbon emissions. As part of the efforts to reduce deforestation and land degradation (commonly referred to as REDD), the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks are introducing a Forest Investment Program (FIP) under the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which hopes to build institutional capacity for REDD implementation, support investments in forests, and reduce external pressures driving deforestation.

Though the aims of the FIP are ambitious, it will have to navigate some challenging waters where multiple interests are at stake. How are the interests of forest communities and Indigenous Peoples protected under plans to invest in forests? How can we ensure private sector investments adhere to rigorous standards? Is there a broader moral question in turning forests into carbon ‘banks’?

Maree Candish

Andrea Kutter

Dr Ancha Srinivasan

Dr Maksha R Mahrjan

    A climate proof future?

Even if all global carbon emissions were to be slashed by 100% tomorrow, the world would still be committed to a certain degree of climate change.  The world’s poorest are likely to be most vulnerable to projected climate impacts, and many are already feeling the negative consequences of a changing climate. Enhancing the resilience of developing countries to climate change should therefore be a major priority of any development finance.

Recognising this, the World Bank and Multilateral Development Banks have developed the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience under the recently established Climate Investment Funds.

But how far is resilience to climate change possible? What does it mean to ‘respond flexibly to uncertainty? Is it appropriate to provide loans and not grants to countries whose climate vulnerability has been caused by others?

All these issues are addressed in this challenging podcast with Ian Noble, Lead Climate Change Specialist at the World Bank, Dr Ancha Srinivasan, Senior Climate Change Specialist at the Asian Development Bank and Dr Maksha R Mahrjan, Climate Change Advisor at CARE Nepal.

Ian Noble

Gary Piennar and Hannah Stoddart

Greg Briffa and Richard Claudet

   An energy revolution in the making

It is the year 2050.  Fossil fuels have become a thing of the past.  Power stations have been replaced by wind and solar systems.  Roads clogged by cars have been replaced by electric vehicles and advanced systems of urban transport. Our buildings and infrastructure are now energy efficient and built from sustainable materials. Climate catastrophe has been averted.

For a vision such as this to become tangible we require a global revolution in energy supply.  The Clean Technology Fund, one of the funding programmes under the CIF, promotes scaled-up financing for demonstration, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term greenhouse gas emissions savings.  It seeks to bring about transformational change in power supply, energy efficiency and transport and, as such, to significantly reduce our global emissions.

But is it feasible to generate renewable energy sectors in markets that are already dominated by powerful fossil fuel providers?  Is it sufficient to tackle only the supply side of the equation when demand for energy are expected to rise so significantly over the next few decades?  How can we ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable sectors do not get forgotten in the energy revolution?

In today’s podcast discussion we sit down with Greg Briffa (DFID), Gary Piennar from An African Democracy Institute and Richard Claudet from the Africa Development Bank to hear their reactions.  Just click on the link below to hear the discussion…

Gary Piennar

Richard Claudet

These podcasts were recorded at the Climate Investment Fund 2010 Partnership Forum, Manila, 18-19th March.  They were written and produced by Emily Benson and were presented by Hannah Stoddart.