Feb 24, 2025
When the governing board of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) meets this week, it’ll welcome 9 new members and 10 observers to begin 3-year terms that will guide our strategic direction, operations, policies, and other activities.
The board meets at regular intervals to take stock of the programs CIF delivers, the investments we make, and how we continue to support national development goals through concessional finance. The new members joining this year include Benin, Tchad, Dominica, Kazakhstan, Fiji, Kiribati, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone.
CIF’s governance structure is premised on shared decision-making, with representation from both recipient and contributor countries. In addition, representatives from civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples groups, and the private sector are active observers to board decisions.
Two funds, shared decision-making
CIF is composed of two funds: the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF). Each fund is governed by its own trust fund committee: 8 seats for recipient countries and 8 for contributor countries. Each committee also includes observer representatives and multilateral development banks (MDBs) partners, that implement CIF projects. The two funds also come together for a Joint Meeting to work through any strategic, legal, or administrative matters that impacts CIF as an organization and that is of interest to both CTF and SCF.
As a previous committee member representing a recipient country noted, the collaboration between the recipient and contributor countries, civil society organizations, and MDBs means sharing views and perspectives “in a free atmosphere” where “everybody has an equal voice.” And as a previous contributor country representative noted, the environment in which these meetings are held is “professional and friendly” and that members work together, “even through very difficult discussions.”
When our 32-member governing board meets in Washinton DC this week, it will have much work to do in supporting country energy ambitions. But it will also have much to celebrate especially after the CIF Capital Markets Mechanism’s (CCMM) successful $500 million inaugural bond issuance earlier this year. Learn more about CIF’s governance structure here.
