One of the first international meetings to focus on climate finance since the Copenhagen summit last December ended Friday with plans in
place to mobilize some $40 billion for country-led low carbon growth.

The week-long meetings of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila, also made progress on support for developing country action on forests, renewable energies and building climate-resilient development.

The CIF Clean Technology Fund (CTF) endorsed investment plans for Colombia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. There are now 13 plans in place around the world and some $4.3 billion of CTF co-financing allocated to projects ranging from solar power development to the greening of public transport systems. It is estimated that an additional $36 billion will be leveraged in the coming years from other sources, including the private sector, bringing the total to be mobilized to $40 billion.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda announced Thursday that the CIF has allocated more than a billion dollars for the Asia and Pacific region since their inception one year ago. "We are encouraged that our developing member countries are taking a strong lead in turning their economies onto low-carbon, climate resilient pathways and are engaging the Climate Investment Funds to act more quickly and more ambitiously in response to the global climate challenge," he said at the opening of the forum.

Committees approved grants for Zambia and Nepal to better respond to the challenge of adaptation, and selected the first pilot countries under the Forest Investment Program (FIP): Burkina Faso, Ghana, Indonesia, Laos and Peru.

The FIP, designed to provide investments that help countries better manage their forests,also approved a consultation process for designing a special grant mechanism for indigenous peoples and local communities.

World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Katherine Sierra said that the CIF was moving from a planning, programming phase to one of implementation.

"We still have a lot to do, but the Climate Investment Funds are moving into high gear," Ms. Sierra said. “The ultimate solution for climate finance will be under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but the CIF can provide important lessons in terms of
governance, leveraging and scalability."