Strategic Climate Fund (SCF)

The Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) provides financing for piloting innovative approaches or scaling up activities aimed at specific climate change challenges or sectoral responses. It supports capacity building through hands-on learning, channels new and additional finance for mitigation and adaptation, offers incentives for scaled-up and transformational actions in the context of poverty reduction, and promotes efforts to maintain, restore, and enhance carbon-rich natural ecosystems while maximizing the co-benefits of sustainable development. SCF serves as an overarching framework that provides funding through the following CIF programs: The Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy (ARISE) program is designed to accelerate the deployment of climate-resilient infrastructure and clean energy by using CIF concessional finance to mobilize significantly greater volumes of public and private investment. ARISE combines grants and highly concessional financing with MDB financing and private capital to address investment barriers, strengthen enabling environments, and develop commercially viable projects and markets. A core feature is its Private Sector Set-Aside, which ensures a substantial share of resources is directed toward private-sector-led investments, including through blended finance, guarantees, subordinated or first-loss capital, and equity. The Forest Investment Program (FIP) provides direct investments to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. It also offers grants and low-interest loans to help governments, communities, and businesses work together to define sustainable solutions for people and economies relying on forests, while maintaining important ecosystem services. The Nature, People and Climate program (NPC) provides funding to help governments, industries, and communities to harness the potential of land resources and ecosystems in climate action, and reduce barriers to sustainability in key areas, such as agriculture and food systems, forests, and other land-based ecosystems. The Renewable Energy Integration program (REI) provides funding that helps address system-wide barriers to the integration of higher shares of intermittent renewable energy generation into the grid and takes advantage of the opportunities emerging as part of the clean energy transition. The Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries program (SREP) supports the scaled-up deployment of renewable energy solutions, such as solar and geothermal, to increase energy access. It is one of the biggest global funders of mini-grids and a game changer for isolated, off-grid communities.

CIF-SCF funding is only accessible through the MDBs (the World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank), which serve as implementing partners.