World Bank focuses on securitisation to scale up climate financing
World Bank is working with a club of 15 finance bosses to lower the risk of investing in climate projects in emerging economies and attract private capital for cutting emissions.
Ajay Banga, the World Bank's president, said the Private Sector Investment Lab is focused on «figuring out a model of originate-to-distribute» that would allow for deep-pocketed investors to put up large sums for climate deals.
The creation of a «securitizable asset class in these kinds of investments, where large pension funds, large players like BlackRock will find a very attractive place to put billions to work,» is a key target, he said at the Bloomberg Business Forum at COP28.
PSIL, which launched in June under the auspices of the World Bank, also includes BlackRock Inc.'s chief Larry Fink, AXA SA Chief Executive Officer Thomas Buberl and Noel Quinn, head of HSBC Plc.
The group is focused on specific approaches that the World Bank can implement after years of struggling to mobilize the vast sums of money needed to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy. The World Bank has also stepped up action on other fronts, including allowing some vulnerable countries to potentially pause debt repayments and hosting a fund for climate damages.
Shriti Vadera, who co-chairs PSIL, said the group is working on financial guarantees because these are «the most efficient and most well-known and used form of credit support.» The PSIL has looked at first-loss and whole-portfolio guarantees, said Vadera, who is chair of Prudential Plc.
The goal is for the World Bank to «create a much more simplified set of guarantee products that can be used across different markets,» she said.
