The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) are a set of multi-donor trust funds created in 2008 and administered by the World Bank, with project delivery carried out jointly by five multilateral development banks (MDBs): the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
The CIF originally comprised two umbrella funds:
- The Clean Technology Fund (CTF), which provides concessional financing for the deployment of low-carbon technologies at scale, such as utility-scale renewables, energy efficiency, and low-emission transport.
- The Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), which houses targeted programs including the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), the Forest Investment Program (FIP), and the Scaling Up Renewable Energy Program in Low Income Countries (SREP).
More recently the CIF has launched additional thematic windows, including programs on accelerating coal transitions, nature-based solutions, renewable energy integration, climate-smart urbanization, and industry decarbonization.
CIF financing is concessional, meaning it is offered on more favourable terms than market-rate MDB lending—through low-interest loans, grants, and risk-mitigation instruments. The intent is to "buy down" the risk of first-of-a-kind investments and crowd in private capital. Governance is shared roughly equally between contributor and recipient countries through Trust Fund Committees, a design that distinguishes CIF from purely donor-controlled vehicles.
The CIF sits within the broader climate finance architecture alongside the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the Adaptation Fund. Unlike the GCF, which operates under the guidance of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, the CIF is governed outside the formal UNFCCC system, although its work is intended to complement Paris Agreement implementation and Nationally Determined Contributions. Contributor countries include the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, and others.
Example
In 2021, South Africa was selected as one of the first countries under the CIF's Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) investment program, which committed concessional financing to support the early retirement of coal-fired power plants and a just transition for affected workers and communities.
Frequently asked questions
The CIF were established in 2008 outside the UNFCCC and disburse exclusively through five MDBs, while the Green Climate Fund was created under the UNFCCC in 2010 and works with a wider range of accredited entities including national agencies and NGOs.
Keep learning