Since its launch in 2014, the public-private sustainable investment initiative The Lab has mobilized more than $1 billion in investment across 25 investment vehicles for sustainable development and action on climate change.
Launched in 2014 in the wake of a 2013 meeting between governments from Germany, the UK, and the US, the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance — which later became just The Lab — sought to coordinate its founding countries’ public capital to more effectively mobilize private investment. As has been amply demonstrated by experts and reality over the past few years, public financing is not enough to support the climate goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, with developing countries needing $1.5 trillion in climate investment annually through to 2030.
The Lab was therefore born of a need to more effectively mobilize private investment — to better identify, develop, and launch innovative climate finance solutions with the aim of driving billions of dollars to the low-carbon, climate-resilient economy.
Since its launch, The Lab has grown to incorporate private-public partnerships with over 60 expert Lab member institutions across three larger programs — the Global Lab, the India Lab, and the Brasil Lab. The Lab has received support from big-name groups such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Oak Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and the US Department of State.
In the four years The Lab has been operational, therefore, it has successfully mobilized $1.06 billion, including more than $230 million in investments from Lab members and over $300 million in private investment. The Lab is expecting its various financial instruments to only increase the private investment figure as they scale up.
“The Lab is very proud to have supported these innovative solutions in getting off the ground and mobilizing over $1 billion in sustainable investment in just a few years,” said Dr. Barbara Buchner, Executive Director, Climate Policy Initiative and Lab Secretariat. “The speed and volume of the investment they’ve attracted signifies not only the relevance of the instruments but also the effectiveness of the Lab’s public-private model.”
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