Public Finance Mechanisms to Catalyze Sustainable Energy Sector Growth

This study was commissioned by United Nations Environment Programme’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics under its Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative, and was conducted by the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy with contributions by Clean Energy Group. Its objective is to provide policy-makers and public finance agencies with a guide that traces the investment stages of sustainable energy technology innovation and project development and highlights how public mechanisms can help address the financing barriers that hinder capital formation in the sector. The report describes public interventions along the continuum of financing instruments that a developer must secure to take a technology or project forward – a continuum that today is incomplete due to various imperfections in the energy markets.