In his recent piece in the MIT innovation journal Whose Rules, Vinod Khosla states that lowering the cost of capital could be the single most important action to mobilize private funds, which are needed to complement the public climate finance in order to achieve 450ppm by 2050. He notes that investors will invest in low-carbon technologies because there is a return, and not because there is a feel good factor, thereby facilitating the projects needed to allow developing countries to grow and meet the global targets for 2050.
IFC has made these investment for many years, mainly through GEF funds, but now with many partners including Climate Investment Funds, structuring finance and providing technical assistance. Our investments have included Water Health International and E+Co. The question is now one of scale.
But in Copenhagen the number for quick start funds is already up to $30bn (as Yvo de Boer has said, delegates came to Copenhagen to celebrate not commiserate). So it's only day two and people already feel it's all possible.
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