By Zhuan Faraj

On 9 November 2022, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions published a report entitled ‘Assets to Flows’, which contains insights from the regional finance forums on climate initiatives to accelerate climate action and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”).

The forums were co-convened by the COP27 Presidency, the five UN Regional Commissions and the Champions for COP26 and COP27 over the course of 2022, and included representatives from (among others) international and regional organisations, private sector investors, and financial institutions in Race to Zero and GFANZ.

The report identifies a number of key findings to move from assets into flows, including the need for:

• Macroeconomic characteristics and prospects for economic growth;
• A supportive policy framework and regulatory environment;
• Currency stability;
• Engagement of domestic financial institutions;
• Integrity of transactions, anti-corruption safeguards, and strong community engagement;
• Measuring, tracking and verifying challenges;
• A strong, green pipeline of investable projects and the need for commercial business; propositions, blended finance and greater information; and
• Scaling-up blended finance.

One of the key outputs from the forums is a financing factsheet – a practical tool to collate information needed such as detailed project overviews and key information, financial information, project structure, project timeline and climate impacts.

The report can be read in full here.