The challenge
- Developing and emerging countries face annual financing needs of up to USD 4 trillion
- Public finance alone is insufficient
- The main bottleneck is not a lack of capital, but a shortage of bankable, investment-ready project pipelines that meet the risk–return requirements of financiers
The solution
Co-authored with Dr. Barbara Samuels, Executive Director of the Global Clearinghouse for Development Finance, the report calls for the creation of Country based Finance Expertise Hubs, mobilising experienced finance practitioners to scale up pipelines of bankable projects by:
- deploying proven private finance techniques, including blended finance and co-financing mechanisms, as well as credit enhancement tools such as guarantees, including first-loss instruments;
- leveraging limited public resources to mobilise private capital at scale;
- unlocking greater access to finance from domestic and international sources.
The paper demonstrates how proven financial techniques can significantly unlock capital for SDG and climate action, drawing on best practices from developing countries and concrete examples from multiple regions.
Country-based Finance Expertise Hubs would provide highly specialised financial expertise to scale up bankable project pipelines and unlock sustainable private finance. These Hubs would help fill the significant technical capacity gap currently limiting access to capital markets for SDG and climate investments.
This imperative—together with the need to maximise the leverage effect of limited public resources—lies at the core of the Compromiso de Sevilla, the outcome document of FfD4.
The paper focuses on advancing practical, ground-level solutions to achieve bankability, which is highly dependent on local conditions, as well as on the mobilisation of domestic capital and local-currency financing. There is a clear opportunity to systematically integrate these Hubs into country-led platforms.
SFO is currently collaborating with UN Environment Program (UNEP), the Global Clearinghouse for Development Finance and several countries to deploy such hubs.
Why it matters
Strengthening financial expertise at the country level is one of the fastest and most effective ways to unlock private investment for the SDGs and climate action.
Emilie Maehara
Deputy Executive Director
Emilie Maehara is the Deputy Executive Director of the Sustainable Finance Observatory. She has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of diplomacy, climate and finance. She worked on mobilizing climate finance in several city networks as Head of Finance Engagement and Partnerships for the C40 x GCoM Bloomberg Philanthropies Joint Programme and Deputy Executive Director of the Global Fund for Cities Development - FMDV. She previously held various position in the French public administration (Diplomat, Ministerial Advisor, Head of the Environment office at the Prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis).
Guillaume Lorentz
Head of bankable sustainable solutions
Guillaume Lorentz has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector, including senior roles at major investment banks such as HSBC. After five years working in market and model risk management, he spent 15 years in trading as a director in Paris and London, focusing primarily on structured products for global portfolios. His financial expertise has since expanded into sustainable finance, with a strong emphasis on the bankability of sustainable solutions through financial engineering. He has extensive implementation experience across fifteen countries in Africa, particularly in energy efficiency, sustainable cities, and carbon markets. At the Sustainable Finance Observatory (SFO), he leads the Bankability and Modelling Division, covering adaptation, biodiversity, energy, and climate-related topics.