“With any innovative initiative, the first stage is critical”

OFQ: What pioneering work is the ADB doing that could be a model for other regions? 

Warren Evans: Right now our biggest initiative is the Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and Pacific. This is a brand new way of mobilizing climate finance, whereby donor guarantees are used to carve out part of our existing loan portfolio, take them off our books, and so free up a large amount of climate finance. For every US$1 billion in guarantees we estimate that we’ll be able to mobilize US$4-5 billion in climate finance. 

We believe this concept could be applied by virtually every Multilateral Development Bank and perhaps bilaterally as well. If we can make this work, then it could become a new model for mobilizing climate finance.