reporter
Name Affiliation Title Ryosuke Takahashi Senior Research Officer, Planning Department
summary
Date: November 14, 2025
Organized by JICA
Name of venue (pavilion name): International Development Finance Club (IDFC) Pavilion
speaker
Name Affiliation Title Kyosuke Inada, Special Advisor for Sustainability Promotion, JICA Ryosuke Takahashi, Senior Researcher, Planning Division, JICA Sean Kidney, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Climate Bonds Initiative Kirsty McNicol, Chief of Climate Finance Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia Matt Eldridge, Climate Finance Advisor, Gates Foundation Clarissa De Franco, Senior Advisor, Allied Climate Partners Muhammad Said, Climate and Environmental Finance Unit, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Specialist, Climate and Environmental Finance Unit, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
Background and Objectives
At COP29, it was agreed to aim for at least $300 billion in climate finance for developing countries and all parties were urged to take action to achieve the $1.3 trillion goal. In this context, private finance mobilization and public-private partnerships are essential.
The event aims to share JICA’s efforts in blended finance and discuss the possibility of cooperation with various actors such as ministries, philanthropists, and development finance institutions working on blended finance.
Contents
At the beginning of the event, Mr. Takahashi, JICA’s Chief Research Officer, gave an overview of JICA’s new scheme, “Private Capital Mobilization Operations,” which provides catalytic investment in funds as a way to attract private capital.
Mr. McNichol noted that the Australian government’s blended finance initiatives include fund investments through the Australia Development Investment (ADI) and investments through the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and the Australian Climate Finance Partnership (ACFP), which was established at the Asian Development Bank. In addition, the Australian Export Finance Corporation (EFC) and the Australian Climate Finance Partnership (ACFP), both of which were established at the Asian Development Bank, were also mentioned. In addition, he noted that the Export Finance Authority of Australia (EFA) is also working on blended finance. In addition to climate change, he also identified gender as a key sector, and said that there could be synergies between the two.
Mr. Erdrick stated that the Gates Foundation’s efforts are more upstream support than fund investment. Specifically, he noted that the Gates Foundation is using tools such as R&D, TA grants, direct investments, and guarantees to create complementary relationships with other institutions, and that the agricultural sector, in which he is involved, contributes to adaptation and mitigation, and that opportunities could include productivity and resilience enhancement for small farmers and wholesalers, biofertilizers, etc. He also noted that the agricultural sector in which he is involved can contribute to adaptation and mitigation.
Mr. Franco stated that Allied Climate Partners is a philanthropist that invests in profit-seeking funds, and since the organization is not necessarily large, using intermediary finance such as funds is an efficient approach. He pointed out the importance of complementing risks in developing regions, where there is a lack of data to make investment decisions and it is important to build a track record of investment. Furthermore, he mentioned the importance of investing in local funds and identifying bottlenecks in development as priority sectors.
Mr. Said said that as a Green Climate Fund (GCF) accredited institution, we provide subordinated loans using GCF funds, and that it is important to support project structuring. Furthermore, we would like to replicate this in other regions, such as Uganda. He stated that there are opportunities for fair transition, nature, green hydrogen, etc.
As a summary of the side event, we confirmed the importance of collaboration among institutions that invest in catalysts, including the sharing of such knowledge.
In his review of the side event, Mr. Kidney noted that money exists in the marketplace and that it is important to mobilize it where it is needed, such as in climate change. Resilience, which is the focus of much attention at the next COP, is a concept that includes social resilience, not just physical resilience, and he also pointed out its relevance to gender. He concluded with the importance of financial engineering for mobilizing funds, and for all parties involved to deepen collaboration.
Group photo of speakers
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