GCF Private Investment for Climate Conference 2019
Incheon, Republic of Korea
7 - 9 October 2019
The GCF Private Investment for Climate Conference ("GPIC") is a global marketplace and ecosystem where leading private sector actors including project sponsors, institutional investors, financial institutions, climate leaders, and the public sector come together to accelerate climate action in developing countries.
The second edition of the GCF Private Investment for Climate Conference took place from 7 to 9 October in Incheon, Republic of Korea this year. Featuring 94 speakers and 23 panel sessions, the three-day event attracted over 500 guests from more than 100 countries, providing a global marketplace and ecosystem for leading private sector actors to come together to accelerate climate action in developing countries.
The conference focused on a number of key areas seen as vital in increasing the private sector’s role in addressing the increasingly urgent need to finance climate action across the globe. This included how to tap the trillions of dollars held by institutional investors, overcoming regulatory and market barriers, unlocking the potential for private investments in forestry and land use as well as e-mobility, spurring innovative participation in venture-style incubators and accelerators, expanding the reach of climate bonds and insurance products, and drawing in debt and equity to drive a green transition.
A common theme of discussion during the conference was that partnerships are key to enhancing climate action, and that investors need to be able to see a roadmap leading to a zero-carbon and climate-resilient future. GCF and other actors in the climate finance space need to move financial flows as quickly as possible to private investors with specialist knowledge of different sectors. Participants heard that GCF can help to smooth the bumps of investment as it is uniquely positioned to support financial deal flows and unlock leadership capital for climate in developing countries.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness, Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, MUFG Bank’s Managing Executive Officer Randall Chafetz and Danmarks Nationalbank Governor Per Callesen were among the distinguished speakers at the conference.
During the conference, GCF also engaged with top global investors and held two partnership roundtables. These sessions concluded that there is strong demand for GCF’s co-investment solutions and catalytic capital to derisk climate investments to unlock private capital at scale. There was also broad agreement about the urgent need for investment readiness to accelerate the origination of bankable climate projects in developing countries. At the outset of a successful replenishment, that concluded with USD 9.78 billion in new pledges on the 24th of October, the GCF reiterated its commitment to step up its efforts in promoting private sector climate action in developing countries.