We believe that blended finance is necessary to achieve the ambitious targets of the Sustainable Development Goals and we seek to design dedicated blended finance models allowing more capital to be deployed to achieve them. Thanks to our unique approach and experience developing sustainable infrastructure projects on the ground (see R20 Legacy), we have developed a know-how to incubate innovative financial initiatives.

Since early 2020, R20 Foundation has been actively involved in the creation of the Subnational Climate Initiative dedicated to mid-sized (5-75 M USD) infrastructure projects, focusing on sustainable energy, waste and sanitation, regenerative agriculture, and nature-based climate solutions. The SCF, thanks to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) became effective in April 2021, for both the Technical Assistance (TA) lead by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in partnership with Gold Standard and R20 as well as the Equity Fund, led by Pegasus Capital, an impact fund manager. In total, 42 countries have signed up to benefit from the initiative. Since then, SCF has become a major initiative and focus of attention of R20 Foundation.

The Global Fund for Coral Reef was launched at the initiative of UNDP with the Prince Albert II de Monaco’s Foundation, the support of BNP Paribas, and Pegasus (as the entity accredited to GCF). R20 supported the GFCR to secure concessional equity, to allow the « blended finance » models to become attractive for private investors. In doing so R20 participated in the design and writing of the concept note towards the GCF and played a leading role in securing the requested number of Non-Objection Letters from National Designed Authorities to get GCF’s approval during their October 2021 Board meeting.

At the initiative of the Lightsmith Group, and having Pegasus accredited entity to GCF, R20 played a leading role in securing the requested number of Non-Objection Letters from National Designed Authorities to get GCF’s approval during their October 2021 Board meeting. R20 also participated in the design and writing of the concept note.

During the One Planet Summit taking place at the Elysée the Plan Mediterranée Exemplaire 2030 (PAMEX) was launched to rekindle regional cooperation on the protection of marine biodiversity and to contribute to discussions in multilateral and regional organizations dedicated to the environment and fisheries management. Following that launch, R20 has worked on a proposal for a new finance initiative, the Pamex Locally Investment Finance Facility (PLIFF). The PLIFF should be launched at COP 27, in Egypt in November 2022.

Read the press release, “France supports the R20 Foundation with a contribution of €100,000 to fight climate change in the Mediterranean”