The Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Arab Republic of Egypt’s Ministry of Environment have announced that Egypt will be the first country to adopt a Climate Investment Plan – a move which could significantly accelerate efforts by Egypt to combat climate change by unlocking new investment.

The Investment Plan (IP) model shifts the focus from looking at climate projects on a project-by-project basis towards a systemic model for securing finance for a country’s climate priorities.

There are several benefits of moving to a systemic investment planning approach.  The shift allows countries to move away from implementing their national climate plans - such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Action Plans (NAPs) - through standalone projects, towards responses that are fully integrated.

The principle of country ownership is also central as Investment Plans are designed and implemented in line with a country’s own priorities for low emission and climate-resilient development.

Egypt is the first country to embark on the development of an investment plan with GCF.

Speaking at the launch of the announcement at Egypt’s pavilion at COP27, Egyptian Prime Minister H.E. Dr Mostafa Madbouly said, “This plan is very important because it can pave the way for implementation, the focus of COP27. Without a clear financial plan - for all the nice programmes and projects - nothing will happen on the ground… I am looking forward to seeing how we can engage more and more the private sector together with governments, to finance climate change projects and to get tangible results that can be implemented.”

H.E. Dr Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Egypt, said, “If we fail to plan, we’re planning to fail.  This Climate Investment Plan acts as a model… planning means we need to take consistent steps to be on solid ground. But planning isn’t enough, we need to mitigate risk. This investment plan is showing us where the risks are but also where are the opportunities.”

Yannick Glemarec, GCF Executive Director said, “This investment plan is an important step to move from planning to implementation – to foster a paradigm shift towards low emission, climate resilient development and to accelerate climate investment through transformational planning, catalysing innovation, de-risking early investment and greening financial systems.  It is about turning planning into transformative climate action in line with Egypt’s needs.”

Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said, “I believe GCF concessional finance and funding for technical assistance has enabled us as an institution to finance investments that take risks and then go out and scale up new technologies and to create an enabling environment… We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with Egypt and the Green Climate Fund as GCF embarks on its second replenishment cycle.”

Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya, Minister of Environment, Rwanda said, “Achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement requires setting ambitious targets such as the ones Egypt is setting.  The Green Climate Fund is an important piece of the puzzle. Over the past decade, GCF has made significant progress in realising its mission... I encourage wealthy nations to meet the USD 100 billion pledge, double adaptation funding and to recapitalise the Green Climate Fund.”

More about Climate Investment Plans

• A system's transition approach - as supported by the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report- is being taken as the Government of Egypt’s climate change strategy is considered to draw synergies between the sectoral plans (moving them into systems transition) and to identify new opportunities.
• By helping developing countries deploy climate risk, vulnerability and feasibility assessments early in the design process and at a systems level, rather than on a project-by-project basis, the investment planning approach offers the potential to move well-designed proposals through the GCF’s investment process more quickly.
• Building investment collaborations to maximise the finance deployed for developing countries’ climate priorities, including from the private sector, will enable money to flow to where it is needed faster. With its unique position at the hub of a global network of over 200 partners, combined with flexible instruments, patient risk-taking capital and a country-driven approach, GCF is well placed to forge collaborations between diverse investment partners to structure programmes of investments that respond to key developing country needs.
• This kind of approach offers the potential of multiplying the volume of finance attracted for developing countries’ climate priorities well beyond what a single source of climate finance is able to channel, by intentionally matching different sources of finance to different interventions and initiatives with different risk profiles and bringing GCF’s institutional reputation and robust due diligence standards to bear in attracting other investors, including catalysing private sector finance.

Further information on Egypt’s Climate Investment Plan can be found on our website.