Climate Finance

Using the economy to create a more resilient environment

Climate financing refers to cooperative spending dedicated to support measures that mitigate the impacts of climate change. Climate finance mobilizes investments in climate change mitigation and adaptation, slowing the process of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, as well as building systems and infrastructure that are more resilient and adaptable to the impacts of climate change, including flooding, drought, and other extreme weather. Climate financing can vary significantly in form, ranging from green climate funds, traditional development aid, debt swaps, carbon markets, national spending, co-investment grants with private sector-subsidized loans, to private investment, insurance instruments, and other risk mitigation tools.

At RTI, we scale up and mobilize the use of climate finance from local, national, multilateral, and private sources. Our team identifies priority climate finance needs, builds the business case for action by quantifying the direct and indirect benefits of investments, helps businesses to become investment ready, strengthens the enabling environment for investment, and convenes participants to catalyze financial commitments and bring solutions to market. Our work supports private investments in climate-smart agriculture and climate-smart markets, nature-based solutions for climate resilience, off-grid energy solutions, and new clean energy generation. Our economic tools and financial analyses also support the design and evaluation of carbon markets and GHG mitigation and adaptation investments at global, national and local scales. Our approach leverages expertise in finance, energy, economics, carbon markets, environmental science and engineering, data science, and innovation.

Competitive Procurement for Renewable Energy

Renewable energy plays a vital role in the fight against climate change. Significant new renewable energy power generation capacity results from well-designed and implemented auction processes based on clear policy frameworks and “bankable” legal and commercial terms. In countries such as the Philippines, we tailor the design of auctions to support competitive procurement within the unique political context of the country’s power sector. We design and procure e-procurement platforms with integrated tools for managing energy planning data, running auctions, and monitoring results. RTI also helped inform the design of a result-based financing facility for off-grid solar in Rwanda, with data-driven insights from publicly available datasets.

Building the Capacity of Renewable Energy Companies

Hundreds of renewable energy companies have improved their business strategies, increased sales, and secured new financing as a result of RTI's CEO coaching, pitch deck support, financial modeling, legal services, and gender action plan development. Beyond individualized support, we actively draw new investors to the sector, promote gender lens investing, and broker partnerships with high-value deals. Through the USAID-funded Power Africa Off-grid Project’s Catalyzing Off-grid Investment Fund, we finance and advise exceptional renewable energy companies to reach underserved markets and introduce new products, such as pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) financing, liquefied petroleum gas cookstoves, and healthcare facility electrification solutions.