Jun 20, 2017
The June 2017 Trust Fund Committees of the Climate Investment Funds encouraged learning, knowledge sharing, and the facilitation of exchanges between stakeholders around their shared purpose of climate-smart development.
It was a week packed with rich conversations between country and financier representatives, and the multilateral development bank partners that implement CIF investments around the world.
The CIF portfolio is comprised of climate-smart investments across four programs: The Clean Technology Fund (CTF), Forest Investment Program (FIP), Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), and Scaling up Renewable Energy in Low-Income Countries Program (SREP).
Following a report on the increase in disbursements, an indicator of project implementation progress, participants expressed a great deal of enthusiasm and support for the CIF’s agenda of empowering transformations in the energy, climate resilience, transport and forestry sectors through its investments.
In a compelling presentation about Uganda's forestry sector, the meeting learned that between 1990 and 2015, the country's forest cover dropped from 24 percent to 10 percent, a deforestation rate that is amongst the highest in the world. According to data shared, forestry also accounts for 69 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions.
In his remarks to the meeting, the Honorable Sam Cheptoris, Uganda's Minister for Water and Environment, highlighted the challenges of mobilizing international climate finance and called on development partners to replenish much-needed resources under the CIF.
Highlights included a session to discuss the objectives of the CIF Evaluation and Learning (E&L) Initiative, and its overarching purpose to capture evidence and lessons to inform both ongoing CIF activities and future climate finance investments. The Initiative includes cross-cutting priority learning themes of transformational change, private sector investment, local stakeholder engagement and benefit, and CIF design and approach.
The session was immensely valuable in allowing the E&L team to refine the concept of transformational change, analyze the extent to which it is taking place across the CIF portfolio, and identify the role of the CIF in developing theories of change for transformation at country, regional, programmatic, and global levels. In sharing lessons about climate-smart development, the E&L initiative ultimately serves as a part of the CIF’s contribution to the global public good of knowledge.
The CIF Gender Action Plan Phase 2 was also in the spotlight. The Plan puts gender at the heart of CIF investments and has been widely applauded for raising the bar with its shift from mainstreaming gender to gender transformation in CIF policy and programming in support of gender-smart climate-resilient, low carbon investments.
See what partners have to say about our approach to Gender
This approach harmonizes gender integration across CIF programs, leading to a greater clarity of purpose, transparency, and accountability, with the goal being to ensure improved real-world outcomes for women affected by the impacts of a changing climate across the globe. The progress and impact of CIF investments will continue to be monitored and evaluated, with an eye on the reach and benefits of the investments in the medium and long-term.
Overall, the CIF continues to deliver by leading learning and change beyond the individual to communities, networks and systems. Through increased efforts, external engagement and global dialogue, it is expected that CIF-financed climate mitigation and resilience efforts will continue to make an impact across the portfolio of over 300 projects, in 72 low and middle income countries.
