Sustainable Development Goal 7 aims to ensure affordable, reliable and modern energy for all by 2030. However, more than 1.2 billion people currently live without access to reliable electricity.

Significant investment is needed in order to close the gap, and achieve universal energy access by 2030, though CPI research has found that there are relatively few blended finance initiatives that focus on distributed and off-grid electricity generation. There is a key need to identify, develop, and scale financial solutions that enable private sector capital to flow into energy access investments, including solutions for distributed generation, off-grid, and “last-mile” grid connection, thereby creating a viable market for generating and delivering energy to the developing world.

With additional support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Lab is seeking proposals for innovative financial instruments to address market barriers and support the scale-up of sustainable energy access for both residential and business application.

These sustainable finance vehicles will offer returns for investors, while reducing emissions, supporting improved livelihoods and access to education and opportunities, and reducing negative health impacts associated with carbon-intensive forms of energy production.

Cities are critical players on climate change. More than half of the global population lives in cities, which consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy and account for more than 70 percent of global carbon emissions. And with 90 percent of the world’s urban areas situated on coastlines, cities are at high risk from climate change impacts such as sea level rise and extreme weather events.
For this reason, cities are on the front lines of climate action, making bold commitments around climate-resilient, low-carbon development pathways. To mobilize the finance needed to bring these commitments to fruition, policy makers, the business community, philanthropic actors, and all classes of investors must work together to pilot, implement, and scale up sustainable investment models.

With the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies and other funders, the Lab is seeking proposals for innovative financial instruments to address market barriers and support the deployment of climate solutions in cities in developing countries, including in energy efficiency, clean energy, low-carbon transport, and other sectors. Proposals may be completely new – i.e., ideas never before implemented – or may seek to adapt or replicate a previously piloted instrument in new developing country city contexts. The Lab will work closely with The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, an international alliance of nearly 10,000 cities and local governments, throughout the Lab process.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the fragility of food systems across the globe, which are already being impacted by the effects of climate change. People living in poverty, among which women are disproportionately represented, are most affected through health and livelihoods impacts.

Food systems are significant contributors to biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, through activities throughout the entire value chain. These activities include land use practices, deforestation, food production including waste and water management, energy use, and transport. At the same time, sustainable food systems contribute to long-term solutions, for instance through ecosystem services. Moreover, agriculture is the main source of livelihood in most developing economies. It is therefore of utmost importance to improve sustainability and resilience throughout the food system.

With support from Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Lab is seeking proposals for innovative financial instruments that support sustainable food systems. Ideas should alleviate poverty, increase productivity, and address biodiversity and climate change (adaptation and/or mitigation). This includes solutions in farming, waste management and input supply, as well as interacting systems, such as energy, trade and health.

Submissions should focus on climate-stressed regions, primarily across low and lower-middle income countries. Proposed sustainable finance vehicles should offer returns for private investors, create jobs and other local economic benefits, sustain biodiversity, improve climate resilience and/or decrease food-related emissions, while supporting a green, resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to creating opportunities for private investors, successful ideas should incorporate different actors in the value chains as appropriate, e.g., producers/farmers (or their organization) buyers, distributors, and/or retailers.