Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions, and Mary L. Schapiro, Chair of the Global Capacity Building Coalition (GCBC), unveiled the beta version of a new Digital Platform (www.capacity-building.org) at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum. This platform aims to greatly expand access to climate finance capacity-building resources and programmes, specifically for financial institutions, professionals, and other key players, to support the global climate transition—especially in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs).
Michael R. Bloomberg said, “To avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need an enormous amount of new investment in clean energy, especially in emerging markets. This platform will give free resources and technical assistance to leaders in developing countries to help them cut emissions, drive economic growth, improve public health, and save lives.”
In its first year, the GCBC has grown into a leading global network for coordinating access to climate finance training and capacity-building programmes. Its membership has more than doubled, expanding from 19 founding members to over 50 organisations. With this increase, the coalition is strengthening collaboration among organisations in the fragmented capacity-building ecosystem. The participation of the financial sector demonstrates widespread support and recognition of the need to work together to promote economic growth, environmental resilience, and public health in EMDEs.
The GCBC now includes more than 50 organisations that collectively engage with over 5,000 public and private financial institutions, 160 financial centers and exchanges, 130 central banks and financial regulators, and millions of finance professionals, with members based across Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe.
Mary Schapiro said, “Supporting emerging markets and developing economies in their transition to net zero is crucial to preventing the worst impacts of climate change. The launch of the beta platform and the addition of new members to the GCBC highlight the Coalition’s dedication to this mission and showcase the strength of its collective expertise.”
As the world strives to meet decarbonisation goals, EMDEs will require $2.4 trillion in annual climate finance by 2030 to build resilient, sustainable economies and facilitate the global transition to net zero. Approximately half of this finance is expected to come from domestic resource mobilisation. However, many EMDEs face challenges in mobilising capital for climate action, as the business case for action is not well understood, and best practices are still developing. A 2024 GCBC survey found that 75% of financial institutions in EMDEs encountered difficulties accessing relevant resources.
To address these challenges, the GCBC has developed its Digital Platform as a comprehensive tool for sharing climate finance capacity-building and technical assistance resources, particularly for financial institutions and professionals in EMDEs.
The beta version of the platform includes a variety of resources, including a knowledge Hub with high-quality, searchable climate finance resources such as frameworks, guidance tools, and reports; a global case study map and library featuring scalable climate finance projects; a global events calendar showcasing learning and networking opportunities; interactive feedback features for real-time user input and platform improvement; and translation and search functionalities to maximise accessibility.
The platform is available in the six official U.N. languages, as well as Portuguese and Indonesian, to increase global engagement.
Alongside the platform launch, the GCBC has initiated a 100-day global consultation to gather user feedback on the Platform and catalyse global, regional, and national capacity-building ecosystems.
Launched by Michael R. Bloomberg and senior leaders at COP28 in December 2023, the GCBC has been working to address the fragmented nature of existing capacity-building resources. By providing free access to critical information, the coalition seeks to respond to the growing demand for capacity-building support from financial institutions in EMDEs, aligning with the aims of the UN and the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG).
Since its launch, the GCBC has been actively building and populating the platform with tools and information essential for improving climate finance knowledge among financial institutions in EMDEs. The coalition brings together leading actors in climate finance capacity building to collaboratively extend support for these economies.
