“It’s all about partnerships”

OFQ: What is the ADB doing to promote blended finance and mobilize private sector resources? 

Suzanne Gaboury: Blended finance is particularly critical for providing de-risking opportunities to encourage the private sector to invest in climate-related projects. We see this across all tech sectors that we’re involved in - from infrastructure to agribusiness to financial institutions. 

The private sector does not like uncertainty, so we aim to create a more certain environment by using the right enabling tools, while also providing opportunities. We bring in blended finance tools to de-risk renewable energy purchase agreements, so that the private sector can afford to join. We take a similar approach with agribusiness to encourage investment from smallholder farmers.