To promote innovation in sustainability, IFC has put together a team with a threefold focus: to incubate innovative business initiatives that deliver environmental and social benefits, to demonstrate their commercial attractiveness, and to encourage their independent replication in the private sector in emerging markets. The main targeted sectors include:
Biodiversity — Commercially viable activities contributing to the conservation of biological diversity in developing countries.
Carbon Finance — Facilitating the development of a commercial carbon market and delivering innovative financial products that unlock the value of carbon assets of our developing country clients and assist our partners in meeting their commitments to mitigate climate change.
Cleaner Technologies (formerly Environmental Opportunities Facility) — Investing in new technologies and new ways of doing business with environmental benefits where profitability can be achieved but barriers of high perceived risk and initial high costs have to be overcome.
Environmental Business Finance Program — Developing a sustainable market for micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as financial intermediaries whose activities benefit the global environment and/or social development.
Gender Entrepreneurship Markets — Unlocking the untapped potential of women in emerging markets by increasing their access to finance to empower them financially and economically.
Sustainable Energy — Transforming markets for energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies through investments and linked capacity building activities.
Sustainable Investing (formerly Sustainable Financial Markets Facility) — Acting as a catalyst to increase the levels of sustainable investments in emerging markets by setting standards and developing financial products in private equity, listed equities and other tradable securities.
