Event

Combating climate change requires funding for new energy infrastructures, retrofitting buildings, increasing energy efficiency, expanding clean transport, sustainable land use and forestry. Broad investment is also required for adaptation to inevitable warming and extreme weather events, some of it relying on nature-based solutions, such as reforestation, restoration of wetlands and coastal mangroves. Much of this funding needs to come from financial sector institutions.

Many developing states in the Global South are already feeling the impact of dangerous climate change, and this will only increase in the coming decades. At the same time, developing countries present opportunities for advancing climate action and sustainable growth. However, the imminent transition towards a low-carbon world must be fair and inclusive – it needs to be a ‘just transition’.

How can we make sure that finance supports a just transition? What can developing state governments, societies and key stakeholders do to attract transition finance? What governance structures are needed for financial resources to be allocated in the right way, supporting both climate change adaptation, mitigation, and broader (sustainable) development goals? What role can Norway play in this process – both as a country involved in development aid and the host of the largest Sovereign Wealth Fund in the world?

Mafalda Duarte is CEO of the $10.5 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF), one of the world’s largest multilateral funds for climate action in developing countries. Since her appointment in 2014, Mafalda has overseen hundreds of investments at the cutting edge of clean energy and resilience across 72 low and middle-income countries, including the largest solar park in the world and South America's first geothermal plant. Under Mafalda’s leadership, CIF's mandate has expanded to include areas like coal phase-out and just transition. Prior to CIF, Mafalda held senior positions at the African Development Bank and the World Bank. She has been quoted in Reuters, BBC World Service, the Economist, and the Financial Times.

The event will also be streamed live on NUPI's Youtube channel.

Program:

Introduction by Mafalda Duarte, CIF

Comments and discussion with the panel and the audience.