N D F T O D AY
What distinguishes NDF? So far under the climate change mandate, NDF has only provided grants. Climate change is a
agencies, so called joint co-financing, or through entering into an agreement directly with
new topic for many developing countries and grants help provide the initial means to demon-
the partner country in question, so called parallel co-financing.
strate for these countries the benefits of putting resources into combating climate change. NDF is not only involved in public sector climate change projects, but also in the private sector. As pointed out in the progress report which was developed by the administration during 2011,
Within the private sector, there are a wide range of projects which are commercial, indirectly
NDF has developed a niche- to influence the design of projects in an effort to strengthen the
commercial or non-profit to their nature. All projects under the Nordic Climate Facility and the
projects’ climate change relevance. The reason for this is similar to the reason we developed our
Energy and Environment Partnership Programme in Mekong are either defined as commercial
climate change guidelines- lack of clarity of what a climate change project is. For mitigation
or non-profit. Indirect commercial projects are where NDF’s funds flow through a multilateral
projects, the relevance is fairly clear- reduce global emissions- while for adaptation projects,
financial organisation but where they will in the end go to a commercial recipient in one of
relevance is more difficult to pinpoint. Early on, projects that were presented to NDF needed
NDF’s partner countries. Projects like GREENPYME and EcoMicro are examples of indirect
stronger climate change relevance and the best way to encourage increased relevance was to get
commercial projects.
involved at an early stage in order to contribute to the actual design of the projects. NDF wants to be known as an institution that adds value to projects beyond the mere financial contribution, not an institution that merely finances climate change projects. While the climate change criteria have been the main focus of attention in developing an NDF policy that distinguishes it from other institutions, it is clear that we would not be able to finance all projects that pass the climate-relevance test. In common with other development finance institutions, we subject proposed projects to an overall review process. This review process takes into account other development objectives, particularly the requirement that the projects should be justified in standard economic terms, and are supportive of other development objectives such as environmental protection, gender, and poverty alleviation. In addition, the degree of influence that NDF plays in influencing the project design is also considered during the review process. NDF’s climate change criteria set us apart from many other financiers and are one reason for NDF to get involved at an early stage in the project cycle. If we are involved from the beginning, we can contribute to climate change aspects being taken into consideration within the design, increasing the likelihood of the project passing NDF’s criteria. Our criteria and project input have been well-received among the partner agencies, and we are happy to hear that other climate change projects. NDF has a strong and close working relationship with its partners. Today the biggest share of NDF financing is provided together with the multilateral banks for projects in the public sector. NDF has a range of funding modalities and may opt to fund a project through one of its partner
Photo: Max Shapira
financing institutions have developed, or are in the process of developing, guidelines for
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