British International Investment providing global leadership to mobilise private capital to combat the climate emergency

Leslie Maasdorp, the Chief Executive of British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution, will tell delegates gathered in Brazil for COP30 that the conditions now exist to dramatically scale the flow of private capital needed to combat the climate emergency.

Speaking ahead of the gathering of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change,  Mr Maasdorp said that DFIs and multilateral development banks had a key role in opening the doors for private institutions to devote significantly more capital into climate finance in those countries most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate emergency.

Emerging and developing economies require at least $2.4 trillion annually until 2030 to meet their climate goals. However, they are currently only receiving a fraction of the funds required.

Mr Maasdorp said: “Mobilising private capital is the single most important climate finance issue facing the world today,” he said. “It is an absolutely necessity to harness the trillions of dollars of untapped capital that exists in pension funds, life insurers and other private institutions to meet the challenge we face.”

Between 2022 and 2024, BII invested $2.2 billion in climate finance and mobilised an additional $1.1 billion of private capital.

BII is expected to announce a string of new climate finance deals over the next month as it increasingly moves to use its concessionary capital to crowd in private investors.

These include details of a new fund set up in partnership with a global private investor that is specifically designed to enable UK life insurance companies to invest in climate finance opportunities in emerging markets. The announcement will reveal the first winner of a flagship BII mobilisation initiative, launched earlier this year, that called on the private investment community to help design products to increase the level of investment into climate-related projects in emerging markets.

BII has also published a report that provides a roadmap for accelerating the flow of private capital into blended finance funds alongside concessionary capital provided by DFIs and others.

Mr Maasdorp added: “With the steadfast support of the UK Government, BII is working in partnership with institutions in the City of London to overcome the obstacles that have historically prevented the likes of life insurers and pension funds from committing capital to climate finance. These obstacles include regulatory, risk and return expectations that have historically hindered global efforts to mobilise private capital at scale.

“We are not asking private investors to take a haircut on their financial returns. There now exists widespread opportunities within our markets for private capital providers to secure appropriate, long-term and predictable rates of return on investment.”

Climate action plays a critically important role in development, particularly in those frontier markets that are most vulnerable to the impacts of the climate emergency. That is why BII will also continue to focus on adaptation and energy access for frontier markets which struggle to attract private capital at scale.

ENDS

Leslie Maasdorp, Chief Executive of BII, Holger Rothenbusch, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure and Climate and Amal-Lee Amin, Managing Director and Head of Climate at BII are available for interview and to provide commentary on all aspects of climate finance during COP30.

Please contact [email protected] or Whatsapp the media team on +44 7515 695232 and +44 7741 349448 for an immediate response. The BII press team will be available from 08:00 to 22:30 UK time throughout COP.