Ringing in a New Era of Climate Finance

When the London Stock Exchange opened for trading this morning, February 3, 2025, the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) were present to celebrate a historic milestone.

At 8:00am London time, the bell rang to mark the successful entry of the new CIF Capital Markets Mechanism (CCMM) on one of the world’s oldest stock exchanges. CCMM’s inaugural bond issuance has raised $500 million and received orders for six times that, exceeding all initial expectations.

“The response has shown that the moment has arrived for a mechanism like this,” said CIF CEO Tariye Gbadegesin, speaking from the balcony of the stock exchange.

“To be six times oversubscribed says it all. Investors know it makes sense to buy into high-quality clean energy projects.”

CCMM makes its debut at a critical time for climate action. During COP29 held in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024, world leaders committed to tripling climate funding for developing countries, bringing the new target to $300 billion annually. 

While substantial, this figure alone is not enough to transform the global energy system at the pace required. To keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 ° C, trillions of dollars must flow to developing countries. 

“CCMM is the proof of concept for a new way of raising climate finance,” Gbadegesin said. “It demonstrates that by working with bold, forward-thinking elements of the private sector, we can unleash new momentum – for both people and planet.”

CCMM represents the first time a multilateral climate fund has used its balance sheet to tap international capital markets. By unlocking reflows from CIF’s well-established Clean Technology Fund loan portfolio, CCMM is expected to raise billions in co-finance to power energy transitions in emerging markets and developing economies around the world.

Gbadegesin was joined at the London Stock Exchange by all those CIF partners who helped make this historic moment possible, including UK Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds, World Bank Head of Treasury Jorge Familiar, and representatives of CIF partner countries, along with representatives from the Lead Managers - TD Securities, Bank of America, HSBC and BNP Paribas – and the legal team at Clifford Chance.

A CIF founding member, the UK also announced at the ceremony a new program to assist more businesses across Asia, Africa and Latin America to list on stock exchanges around the world.