The 5th Finance in Common Summit (FiCS), co-hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the support of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), will be held both online and in-person in Cape Town, South Africa. Alongside the 500+ public development banks that comprise the Finance in Common network, the summit also brings together private sector actors, governments, philanthropies and research and nonprofit organizations like WRI to collaborate and reimagine sustainable finance. Registration for the summit is required, and virtual registration is necessary to view the livestream.

Public development banks have a key role to play in transforming the financial system for sustainability, both in providing finance and supporting reforms. This includes the vast number of national development banks, which sit on significant financial firepower and are uniquely positioned to help coordinate climate and development goals at the national level. 

Find WRI at these events. This page will be continuously updated. The full FiCS agenda is here.

Wednesday, February 26

Breakout Session: GRN - Driving Transformation: PDBs Strategies for Mobilizing Private Capital​​ (in-person and livestreamed)

  • Time: 9:00AM – 10:30AM
  • Location: Ballroom West, The Cape Town International Convention Center
  • WRI Speakers: Valerie Laxton (moderator); organized with ODI
  • Description: Public development banks, especially at the multilateral level, have been asked to mobilize more private capital. Mobilization volumes to date remain small, but progress has been made in developing new ways to attract different types of private investors at greater scale to contribute to development and climate goals. In this session, panelists will exchange on approaches and instruments that PDBs (MDBs, DFIs and NDBs) can deploy, their effectiveness, and how these instruments can scale their mobilization of private capital in “Fostering infrastructure and finance for a just and sustainable tomorrow”. It will present research that examines this issue at three levels (1) balance sheet expansion through equity or bind issuance (2) single-asset mobilization (project level) and (3) multi asset mobilization (portfolio level) and will feature several PDB practitioners who will discuss the policy relevance of the research findings and their own experience in these areas.

Breakout Session: GRN - Maximizing the Impact of PDBs in Financing the Transition - Challenges & Opportunities (in-person and livestreamed)

  • Time: 2:00PM – 3:30PM
  • Location: Hall 2, The Cape Town International Convention Center
  • WRI Speakers: Valerie Laxton (moderator); organized with I4CE
  • Description: As entities invested by the Parties to the Paris Agreement, PDBs have a unique role to play in supporting the implementation of national long-term transition commitments. They can channel much-needed public funding towards activities that make the biggest contribution to national low-emission climate-resilient and just development pathways. Though the central role of PDBs in driving the sustainability agenda is acknowledged by most governments and PDBs, challenges subsist in translating this potential into transformational action. This session will explore how the impact of PDBs on low-emission and resilient development is currently being assessed. Looking ahead, panelists will identify opportunities for PDBs to maximize this impact and increasingly contribute to a deep transformation of the real economy. 

 

Cover photo by Axel Bührmann/Flickr