Bangladesh Among Five Nations Selected to Receive Climate Funding

Bangladesh has been named among five countries selected for the first phase of a new climate resilience investment initiative launched by the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), which aims to expand climate adaptation projects and attract additional financing.

The other selected countries are Haiti, the Kyrgyz Republic, Morocco and Sierra Leone. A regional initiative involving Malawi and Mozambique has also been chosen, according to a CIF press release issued on Thursday.

Under the Accelerating Resilience Investments and Innovations for Sustainable Economies (ARISE) programme, each selected country will be eligible to develop an investment plan seeking up to $30 million in funding. The joint Malawi-Mozambique programme can seek financing of up to $40 million.

The selections followed an assessment of 25 expressions of interest, representing more than $700 million in potential investment opportunities across various sectors. These include agriculture and food systems, water security, infrastructure, energy, coastal resilience, blue economies, natural resources, financial services and adaptive social protection.

The selected countries will collaborate with their respective multilateral development bank (MDB) partners to develop investment plans under the initiative.

Launched at COP30 last year, ARISE initially secured more than $100 million in funding commitments from Germany, Spain and Ireland to support a new generation of climate resilience investments.

The United Kingdom has also recently pledged additional funding of up to $128 million over the coming years through reflows from the CIF's existing resilience programme.

The initiative aims to use concessional financing to attract larger investments from both public and private sources, strengthen climate-vulnerable sectors, safeguard livelihoods and promote sustainable long-term economic growth.