It's that time of year again. We ran the numbers and here are the top blended finance reports, case studies, blogs, and more from Convergence that you engaged with the most in 2022.
Top Report: State of Blended Finance 2022
For the first time ever, this year's report focused on blended finance for climate and provided an overview of the state of the market for both blended finance for mitigation and adaptation, including insights on deal and investor trends. The report also included special op-eds and interviews from Climate Fund Managers, Allianz Global Investors, the Nature Conservancy, Swiss Re, and much more.
The report found a significant decline in aggregate financing levels for climate in recent years – between 2019-2021, $14 billion was invested into climate blended finance transactions, compared to $36.5 billion between 2016-2018 – an over 60% decrease. Overall, climate-oriented blended finance transactions have accounted for 50% of all blended deals launched annually, accounting for an aggregate annual deal value of around $7 billion.
Top Data Brief: How DFIs Deploy Catalytic Capital
DFIs have a long history of making catalytic capital investments, to create new commercial markets, leverage additional investors, and achieve other goals. This Brief seeks to understand how DFIs have deployed catalytic capital to date through examining their participation in blended finance transactions.
Top Op-ed: Five Things that Could Happen if Blended Finance Scaled
In this op-ed, our CEO Joan Larrea lays out a thought experiment on what the world would look like if blended finance were to scale. What if blended finance were to realize its promise of mobilizing private sector funds to sustainable development in volumes never before seen — “billions to trillions”?
Top Case Study: Developing the Solar Market in Uruguay
In 2013, the Government of Uruguay launched a 200MW tender program to attract private sector participation in the development of solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants and increase the share of renewable energy in Uruguay's energy matrix. IDB Invest and the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in the Americas (C2F) participation in the program addressed the primary market barriers to institutional investor investment in Uruguay’s nascent solar market. Their joint participation reduced counterparty risk and improved project bankability.
The case study takes a closer look at IDB Invest and C2F’s participation and identifies a series of key insights for overcoming the inherent challenges of project finance in an emerging sector and provides a replicable model for how to draw in institutional investors to renewable energy financing in Latin America.
Top blog: Can Blended Finance Help Fill the Financing Gap in Health and Education?
This blog identifies key takeaways from our Data Brief on Health and Education which analyzed 83 transactions targeting SDG 3 (Good Health) and the 36 transactions targeting SDG 4 (Quality Education) recorded by the Convergence database, representing $15.8 billion and $1.46 billion in total committed financing, respectively.
