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Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance Selects Initiative to Finance Green Infrastructure in India

With the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, this year’s class features a public-private initiative that supports innovative solutions to finance infrastructure for renewable energy and other channels for green growth.

April 06, 2023. By Anurima Mondal

Members of the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance gathered in London to select six innovative climate finance solutions that will be accelerated in 2023.

With the support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, this year’s class features a new instrument for the Lab’s regional program in India: a public-private initiative that supports innovative solutions to finance infrastructure for renewable energy and other channels for green growth.

The Impact Financing Facility for Climate-Focused Social Enterprises will support social enterprises adopting climate-smart technologies and establishing a track record to access commercial capital.

The idea’s proponent, Villgro, an Indian social enterprise incubator, brings together a diverse group of stakeholders, such as startups, non-banking financial companies, and retail lending institutions, to support a variety of blended finance projects. Once operationaliSed, the facility will support a spectrum of climate tech innovations, spanning from clean energy to sustainable mobility across rural and urban areas.

“Villgro sees blended finance as a crucial step towards improving access to finance to social enterprises developing innovative climate solutions. The Lab’s experience and expertise in designing, testing, and validating blended finance structures will add the needed credibility to our efforts,” said Vibha Sharma, the company’s Impact Financing Lead.

Each year, the Lab competition selects promising, early-stage ideas for sustainable investment and rapidly develops these ideas into fundable, scalable investments and business models. The winners will undergo seven months of analysis, stress-testing, development, and preparation for launch later this year.

“We are thrilled about the quality and breadth of the types of innovative financial solutions that we see in this new Lab cycle. It's fantastic that our members continue to help the Lab expand our boundaries, focusing more on where we can have the highest impact on the ground,” said Barbara Buchner, Global Managing Director of Climate Policy Initiative.

The Lab is an investor-led initiative that identifies, develops, and launches promising solutions to drive critical public and private investment in climate change in developing economies. Since 2014, the Lab has developed 62 instruments which mobilised USD 3.5 billion for climate action in emerging markets.

The Lab selected five additional ideas. They are Catalyst Climate Resilience Fund, Climate Resilient Landscape Finance (CRLF), Lendable Emerging Market Sustainability-Linked Loan Fund, Social Infra Ventures (SIV) and the VOX VERT Land Use Transition Fund.

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Energy efficiency

Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Villgro

Renewables operations

sustainable energy solutions