2012年-世界发展银行全球_Green_Infrastructure_Finance___Framework_Report_76页_4mb

Green Infrastructure Finance: Framework Report Summary

Core Content

This report, Green Infrastructure Finance: Framework Report, presents a comprehensive framework for financing low-emission (green) infrastructure projects, particularly in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. It outlines the challenges and opportunities in green infrastructure finance, emphasizing the need for a structured approach to risk allocation, policy interventions, and financial instruments.

Main Conclusions

• Financing Challenge: To halve energy-related CO₂ emissions by 2050, the IEA estimates that energy supply and use investments must increase by US$46 trillion compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. This requires US$750 billion annually by 2030 and over US$1.6 trillion annually from 2030 to 2050.
• Current Investment Gap: Despite promising trends, the actual volume of clean energy investment remains well below desired targets. The report highlights that current investment levels and growth are insufficient to meet the global warming challenge.
• Need for a Green Finance Framework: A framework is necessary to evaluate, design, and finance green infrastructure projects. It should bridge environmental economics and project finance practices to address the financial viability gap.
• Key Principles: The framework is guided by three main principles: (i) targeting green finance to sectors with high numbers of low-abatement-cost projects; (ii) setting ceilings on support per tonne of GHG abatement; and (iii) using competitive mechanisms to ensure equitable risk allocation.

Key Information

Green Infrastructure Finance Framework

• Purpose: To identify and finance green infrastructure projects within the current policy framework and international programs.
• Benefits:
  • Helps evaluate the financial viability gap and explain its causes.
  • Guides policy makers in sharing financing responsibilities among national, local, and international stakeholders.
  • Identifies the most effective mix of financial instruments to close the viability gap.
  • Enables governments to improve their investment climate to attract more private capital.

Conceptual Methodology

• Rationale: The framework addresses the two main reasons low-emission projects are not being financed:
  1. Financial Viability Gap: Low-emission projects often have higher upfront costs, lower output per unit of capacity, and higher perceived risks.
  2. Market and Information Barriers: Capital market gaps and information asymmetries may prevent private capital from flowing to these projects.
• Risk Allocation: The framework suggests mechanisms to allocate risks and responsibilities appropriately, ensuring that each stakeholder bears a fair share of the financial burden.
• Hybrid Financing: It promotes the use of hybrid financing arrangements where parties contribute instruments based on their comparative advantages to close the financial viability gap.

Green Investment Climate in EAP Countries

• Government Role: Governments can play a pivotal role in promoting green investments through a wide range of interventions, including policies, programs, legislation, and financial instruments.
• Country-Specific Assessment: The report emphasizes the need for a detailed assessment of the green investment climate in each EAP country to develop tailored recommendations.
• Private Financial Markets: The ability of a country to alter its green investment climate is influenced by the sophistication of its private financial markets and the overall attractiveness of its investment environment.
• Policy Interventions: Many EAP countries have introduced policies and instruments to improve their investment climate and support green growth, but these are often implemented piecemeal without a cohesive framework.

Summary of Economic Design Principles

• Efficient Use of Resources: Focus on sectors with a large number of low-abatement-cost projects.
• Cost Ceilings: Set limits on the value of support per tonne of GHG abatement.
• Competitive Mechanisms: Use these to ensure that projects receive only the necessary support to be financially viable.
• MRV System: Establish a robust, practical, and easily understood monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) system as a fundamental prerequisite.

Financial Instruments and Structures

• Public Instruments: Include feed-in tariffs (FiT), direct subsidies, and fiscal incentives.
• Private Instruments: Include project finance, energy service companies (ESCOs), and other market-based mechanisms.
• Examples: The report provides examples of financial structures for wind energy, geothermal, and building energy efficiency projects, showing how different instruments can be combined to support green investments.

Conclusion and Next Steps

• The framework is part of a continuing series of green infrastructure finance publications.
• The next step involves operationalizing the framework through a pilot in a selected EAP developing country.
• The goal is to develop more customized and innovative financing instruments to address the specific needs of green projects.

Key Recommendations

• Develop a comprehensive "bottom-up" framework to assess the green investment climate.
• Create a workable combination of financing instruments that can attract private capital.
• Address policy distortions and market failures that impede green investments.
• Use hybrid financing arrangements to leverage limited public funds and private capital effectively.

Appendices and References

• Appendix: Includes a Green Investment Climate Matrix, which provides a structured approach to assessing and improving the investment climate for green infrastructure.
• References: Lists key sources, including reports from the World Bank, international agencies, and academic institutions, supporting the analysis and recommendations in the report.

Summary of Key Terms

• Green Infrastructure: Projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable development.
• Viability Gap: The difference between the cost of a green project and its market viability.
• MRV System: Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification system for tracking and validating GHG emissions and abatement.
• Concessional Financing: Financial support provided at below-market rates to promote green investments.
• Feed-in Tariff (FiT): A policy mechanism that guarantees a fixed price for renewable energy generated and fed into the grid.

Summary of Figures and Tables

• Figures:

  • Figure 1: Investments in green technologies and emission trajectory.
  • Figure 2: Why low-emission projects are not getting financed.
  • Figure 3: Project finance for a power plant.
  • Figure 4: Energy efficiency projects may be less attractive than core business projects.
  • Figure 5: Explaining the financial viability gap for a wind farm.
  • Figure 6 and 7: Filling the viability gap with public benefits.
  • Figure 8: Green finance interventions in a project finance structure.
  • Figure 9-11: Examples of green projects.
  • Figure 12: Elements of the green investment climate.
  • Figure 13: Process for pilot implementation.

• Tables:

  • Table 1: Additional risks of low-emission investments.
  • Table 2: Technical and financial factors for coal and wind energy.
  • Table 3: Public sector policies and instruments.
  • Table 4-7: Financial structures for various green projects.
  • Table 8: Key clean energy indicators in EAP countries.
  • Table 9: Financial products and their use.
  • Table 10: Energy consumption and imports in the Republic of Korea.
  • Table 11: Green Investment Climate Matrix.

Final Thoughts

This report underscores the importance of a well-structured and flexible green infrastructure finance framework in addressing the financial and institutional challenges of green investments. It highlights the role of both public and private sectors in leveraging limited resources to accelerate the transition to a low-emission economy.