Prioritizing domestic control essential for financial progress and climate change-adaptive growth
In the current decade, with rising debt burdens, challenges to global cooperation, and impending climate and biodiversity catastrophes, the principle of 'country ownership' is considered essential and strategic. This principle is at the heart of various initiatives aimed at financing sustainable development and climate action.
Two key tools bridging financing gaps for climate-resilient development are country platforms and Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs). These government-led investment frameworks help coordinate public and private capital, reduce duplication, improve policy coherence, and boost investor confidence by aligning financing with climate and development priorities.
Country platforms, such as South Africa's Just Energy Transition Partnership and Egypt's NWFE platform, align national priorities with investor appetite to unlock climate and development capital. For instance, Brazil's Platform for Climate Investments and Ecological Transformation (BIP), launched in 2024, represents a next-generation country platform anchored in national priorities and strong governance to mobilize finance from multiple sources. Uganda’s Climate Finance Unit (CFU), established in 2023, coordinates diverse climate finance flows, develops a National Climate Finance Strategy, and improves project pipelines aligned with national priorities.
INFFs, on the other hand, are national platforms or mechanisms that countries develop to coordinate financing for sustainable development and climate action. These often include readiness support and coordination mechanisms supported by multilateral funds such as the Adaptation Fund (AF), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and Green Climate Fund (GCF). These funds provide support to strengthen institutional capacity, conduct needs assessments, and mobilize investments through nationally led initiatives.
Country platforms and INFFs serve as essential tools for bridging financing gaps for climate-resilient development by building strong governance, aligning investments with national priorities, and mobilizing diverse sources of finance at scale. They act as credible, nationally owned frameworks that align government priorities with financing sources, improve coordination across ministries and development partners, strengthen policy coherence, mobilize large-scale private and public finance, enable access to readiness support, and support the integration of climate considerations into national budgets and investment frameworks.
South-South cooperation formalization could help address the imbalance between individual countries and international organizations in replicating development practices. International partners, including multilateral development banks, governments, private sector, national development banks, civil society, and technical advisory, have critical roles to play at every stage of national development.
The G20 Roadmap towards better, bigger, and more effective MDBs, launched under Brazil's G20 presidency, and the Global Financing Playbook launched under the Sevilla Platform for Action, are initiatives aimed at reforming international architecture to support country ownership. With their respective COP30 and G20 presidencies, Brazil and South Africa are attempting to share their experiences and support prospective countries to develop their own platforms.
More systematic exchange of knowledge and experience is needed to help countries learn from each other and develop this emerging community of practice into a pillar of global cooperation. FFD4 represents a pivotal moment to strengthen support for country leadership on financing and the principle of country ownership, reinforcing the call for integrated, nationally driven solutions that bridge climate, nature, and development finance.
Country platforms are led by ministries of finance and are embedded at the highest levels of government and within other national and subnational institutions, including national development banks. National development ambition is articulated through various plans and visions, such as national development plans (NDPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), and others. More than 85 countries are using the INFFs approach to identify financing needs and opportunities, develop policy reform agendas, and embed sovereign financing strategies within national institutions.
In conclusion, the strategic focus on country platforms, emphasized at COP30 in Belém, and the ongoing efforts to reform international architecture, such as the G20 Roadmap and the Global Financing Playbook, are crucial for securing financing and implementing policy reforms needed for sustainable development and climate action.
- The principle of 'country ownership' is considered essential and strategic in the current decade, particularly in financing sustainable development and climate action, as countries develop Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) and country platforms to coordinate public and private capital.
- These government-led investment frameworks, such as Brazil's Platform for Climate Investments and Ecological Transformation (BIP), help boost investor confidence by aligning financing with climate and development priorities.
- South-South cooperation formalization could help address the imbalance between individual countries and international organizations, with countries like Brazil and South Africa attempting to share their experiences and support prospective countries to develop their own platforms.
- Initiatives like the G20 Roadmap towards better, bigger, and more effective MDBs, launched under Brazil's G20 presidency, and the Global Financing Playbook are aimed at reforming international architecture to support country ownership.
- As more than 85 countries are using the INFFs approach, the strategic focus on country platforms, emphasized at COP30 in Belém, and the ongoing efforts to reform international architecture are crucial for securing financing and implementing policy reforms needed for sustainable development, climate action, and biodiversity conservation.
