It is an honour to be invited to join this distinguished assembly of speakers for the Green Horizon Summit.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are running out of time. Average global temperature is currently estimated to be 1.1°C above pre-industrial times. Based on existing trends, the world could cross the 1.5°C threshold within the next two decades and 2°C threshold early during the second half of the century.

However, the key conclusion from the IPCC is that limiting global warming to 1.5°C is still narrowly possible.

We need nothing short of a global financial transition to put us on track.

But whilst the climate finance flows needed to achieve this has been increasing, it is not happening rapidly enough.

On the supply side of finance, that is because market risk is misaligned with climate reality. Markets need information to price climate physical, transition and legal risks and balance them against the higher upfront capital requirements of green investment. And they need pricing mechanisms that externalize the costs of carbon emissions. Financiers need financial products to invest in, and bankable projects that create the investment opportunities.

On the demand side of finance, that is because entrepreneurs face a range of policy, institutional and technical barriers to convert investment opportunities into bankable projects. Even the best wind resources in the world will not make wind energy competitive if fossil fuels are heavily subsidized or if it takes three years to an entrepreneur to get an operating license.

Whilst COVID-19 is increasing the need for green investment to revive economies on low emissions, climate resilient development pathways, it is reducing the public resources available to developing countries.

The Green Climate Fund is the world’s largest dedicated fund financing climate action in developing countries. We are working with our partners to remove the supply and demand barriers that are stopping this financial transition in developing countries.

There is much to be done, and we are working to provide the solutions. We need:

• to support developing countries in integrating policies, climate action, and economic recovery to set up a conducive environment for green, resilient investment.
• to develop new valuation methodologies for climate-resilient infrastructure to support asset repricing in global financial markets.
• to design new green and climate-resilient financial products such as green ABS or resilient bonds for developing countries to access institutional finance.
• to make blended finance work – particularly for LDCs and SIDS and for adaptation and ecosystems protection, where efforts to leverage private investment have so far fallen short of what is required.
• to enhance the capacity of national financial institutions to access domestic and international capital markets for green, resilient investments.
• to create innovative financial instruments and financing structure that can increase access to climate finance in developing countries, without increasing their sovereign debt.

GCF is supporting a portfolio of USD 20 billion of low emissions climate resilient investments in developing with USD 6 billion in GCF c0-financing funding. GCF co-financing usually takes the form of grant for policy or project development or concessional/first loss non-grant instruments to de-risk first-of-its-kind investments.

And our Board meeting this week will consider another USD one billion of GCF co-financing in climate proposals.

I hope that the Green Horizon Summit will encourage new initiative and partnerships and help drive the public and private financial transition to a sustainable and resilient future for all.