In recent years, innovative financing mechanisms have gained in popularity and have been used in various sectors, but opinions still differ on their main characteristics, sources and players involved, as well as on the future perspectives and challenges.

At the same time, it is essential to raise and channel public and private funds for climate mitigation and adaptation to help establish sustainable and resilient economies. The Paris Agreement has paved the way for responding to this challenge and keeping the temperature rise below 2°C. However, the fight against climate change requires considerable resources as well as appropriate financing mechanisms which take into account the role and considerations of the private sector.

It is in this context that the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development – represented by Georgia (President of the Leading Group for 2017/18), Germany (member country of the Leading Group) and France (Permanent Secretary) – has organized a side event alongside the 2018 ECOSOC Forum on financing for development at the UN on 23 April. The aim was to kick-start a demanding dialogue between development professionals, the private sector, international organizations, civil society and donors discussing the mechanisms already in place for climate adaptation and mitigation and to compare research results with these players’ experiences.

This event was an opportunity to examine various innovative financing instruments available to stakeholders and thus to establish new ways to use them or combine them effectively in order to promote a complementary and coherent financing framework for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Event programme

18:30 – Opening remarks by:

• Mariam Jashi, President of the Leading Group on Innovative Financing for Development and President of the Georgian Parliamentary Commission on Education, Science and Culture.
• Dominic Ziller, Director General of International Development at the Germany Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

18:50 – Round table:

• Jens Frølich Holte, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Norway)
• Rémy Rioux, Director General of the Agence Française de Développement
• Hervé P. Duteil, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), Territory Management, Americas, BNP Paribas
• Emilia Reyes, Civil society representative at the FfD Group

19:10 – discussion between panellists and the room, moderated by François Legué, Deputy director for Development (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs – MEAE)

19:50 – Closing remarks by:

• François Legué, Deputy director for Development (MEAE)

Concept note:

Side event

SDGs innovative financing needs to go viral, how to raise additional resources for climate change mitigation and adaptation