Publications

For years, the European Union assumed it would lead the cleantech race because it was the only one running in it. Mistakenly so. With the Inflation Reduction Act, the US quickly catches up. This brief argues that the best EU policy answer to the IRA is an EU long‑term climate investment plan. As the political appetite for such a plan is currently limited, the European Commission should use the political momentum to propose a targeted investment plan that focuses on the development, scale-up, manufacturing and deployment of clean technologies in the EU. It identifies three first bricks that can already be laid out to build this plan.

2022, France is paying dearly for a dependence on fossil fuels maintained by a chronic lack of investment in the decarbonisation of the economy. This edition of the Landscape of climate finance in France makes a detailed analysis of these critical expenditures by households, companies and public authorities, in the retrofitting of buildings, the purchase of electric vehicles, and renewable energies, as well as in rail, cycling and urban public transport infrastructures. Encouragingly, climate investments have increased significantly in the past year, driven, among other factors, by favourable regulations and by state support under the recovery plan. But this growth remains fragile, and analysis of several transition scenarios shows that climate investments need to increase further in order to stay on track to carbon neutrality and to ensure a lasting reduction in France’s dependence on fossil fuels.

As COP27 draws to a close, let us remember the obvious: implementing the Paris Agreement will require financial flows from developed to developing countries. However, these flows are not just the much discussed $100 billion a year promised by the nations of the North to their counterparts in the South - a promise that has not been kept to date. And they are not just about budgetary flows either. More fundamentally, the architecture of development financing - or at least its climate component - needs to be reviewed in depth. It is therefore primarily the mission and modus operandi of the multilateral banks, and more broadly of the public development banks, that must be reviewed.

In 2022, the G20 raised a key question: are development banks well equipped to deliver their mandate and lead the way to a more sustainable development, in a world faced by multiple crises? Multilateral development banks (MDBs) and development financial institutions (DFIs) business model was historically developed around project financing. But they now need to shift to supporting the transition of their counterparts: country governments, ministries, financial regulators but also national public banks, local financial institutions and companies. A new journey for development banks, and a new journey for their counterparts. Quite a challenge.

The industrial sector currently accounts for around 20% of French greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

This I4CE report focuses on the role of countries’ Long-Term Strategies (LTSs) in the Paris alignment approaches of Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). It explores the possible roles of both the LTS development process and the resulting LTS document in providing insights on the Paris alignment of investments within investment decision-making processes. The findings are relevant for a broader range of financial institutions.

A steep rise in investment in low-carbon vehicles and sustained climate investment in other sectors, a fall in the financing of fossil fuels, a climate funding deficit of over 13 billion that recovery measures are unlikely to offset...

The Landscape of Climate Finance is a comprehensive study of domestic investments which support climate mitigation in France. This study maps the financial flows supporting investments leading to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the French economy.

As part of the EUKI-supported project “Landscape of climate finance: Mainstreaming climate finance in the CEE region”, I4CE supported the Polish think-tank Wise Europa in the elaboration of a Landscape of climate finance in the sector of energy retrofitting of existing buildings in Poland.

Decisions taken in response to the COVID-19 crisis today will lock in the world’s development patterns for decades. With policy decisions made on a daily basis, information about how public money is being spent can be hard to follow. That is why a consortium of 14 expert organizations came together to track energy-specific responses by G20 governments.

Confronted with a health crisis that has caused a global social and economic shock, the European Union and countries around the world are adopting major economic support programs. Following the initial focus that must be on overcoming the health emergency itself, actions that contribute to climate goals can be an effective part of improving both the economy and the resilience of our society. I4CE’s proposal calls for a public finance package of 7 billion euros per year that is estimated to trigger 19 billion euros of additional public and private investment. Altogether, this package would contribute to the economic recovery post-crisis, while simultaneously reinforcing our society against future shocks without reducing France’s contribution to international climate goals.

Since 2012, I4CE has been tracking climate investment and finance in France and similar assessments have been conducted in Germany by IKEM. This study compares the methodologies and results of these two exercises – the most advanced in Europe. The paper allows an initial comparison of investments in the two countries, identifying similarities in priority […]

It is no easy task to take climate risks – transition risks and physical risks – into account in financial management practices. As this note shows from the example of banking activities, the intrinsic characteristics of these risks – which are long-term and cannot be assigned a probability and for which there are no historical […]

The 2019 Edition of I4CE’s Landscape of Climate Finance provides an overview of the investments made by governments, households and businesses in support of the French government’s climate-related objectives. The 2019 edition of the Landscape reveals that climate investments exceeded 45 billion euros in 2018 in France. These investments were made by households, public authorities […]

The idea of creating a European Climate Bank is gaining ground. After being put on the table by the Climate Finance Pact and its many supporters, it is now included in French President Emmanuel Macron's "Letter to Europeans". With the European elections coming up soon, it is excellent news that financing the fight against climate change is on Europe's political agenda. However, is the best solution a new European financial institution?

The transition to a low-carbon economy implies significant investments in buildings, transport systems, vehicles, power plants, industry, agriculture. However scaling-up those investments to meet climate and energy objectives requires an improved knowledge base in investments and financial flows in those sectors, as well as policy assessment tools.   This is why I4CE has developed since 2013 a “Landscape of domestic climate […]

Since 2014, I4CE has tracked annually the investments made in France supporting climate action, whether by households, businesses or public authorities. The Landscape of Climate Finance is a powerful tool to fuel public debate, help decision makers assess the performance of their actions, and identify the efforts that remain to be undertaken.

The conference brought together more than 180 participants from government, industry, research and civil society. They discussed potentials and different approaches to financing the energy transition in France and Germany.

As part of the Partnership for Market Readiness (PMR) initiative, funded by the World Bank (WB), the United Nations Development Program and the National Agency for Energy Management (ANME) in collaboration with the Tunisian Professional Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (APTBEF) and the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE), held Monday, June 18, 2018 in Tunis, a lunch debate on the role of the financial sector in the energy transition and the implementation of the Paris Agreement in Tunisia.

I4CE and E3G - Third Generation Environmentalism in partnership with the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union held a breakfast meeting to discuss the following issue ...