South-Originating Green Finance: Exploring the Potential

Investment from developing countries to other developing countries, both domestic and cross-border, is growing to become one of the most important sources of finance.

This discussion paper highlights the key role played by South-originating green finance in an evolving financial landscape, given the pressing need to scale green investment, and the potential for national and international policies to accelerate its volume and enhance its impact.

This paper, as part of the initiative on South-originating Green Finance, is intended to help:

• Crystallize current knowledge, including a sense of future trends based on current data

• Provide a framework for further discussion, including definitions and testable hypotheses

• Offer initial policy reflections and, where possible, recommendations

• Set out a policy-focused research agenda

South-originating Green Finance is an initiative within the Geneva International Finance Dialogues, which aim to enhance the scale, quality and timeliness of green finance through policy dialogues based on shared ambitions, experiences, and innovative and practical ideas for action. The Dialogues are organized by the Swiss Agency for International Cooperation (SDC) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), in association with the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).