This evaluation of the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) climate portfolio is part of a larger evaluation that aims to determine whether Swedish development finance for climate mitigation is financing efforts that are likely to contribute to emission reductions that are large enough and can be realised quickly enough to significantly contribute to the Paris Agreement’s 1,5 C temperature objective. This working paper presents an evaluation that covers at a selection of 18 NDF projects.
Understanding the transformative potential of finance for climate mitigation goes beyond a quantitative measurement of greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Instead, it requires analysis of the potential for wider structural change that could accelerate progress towards the rapid emissions reductions called for under the Paris Agreement. To address the potential for transformative change, this evaluation applies a methodology based on the Climate Investment Fund’s (CIF) Principles for Transformational Climate Finance. The NDF projects were evaluated against the CIF principles of Speed, Scale, Systemic Change and Relevance as well as Additionality. In addition, the evaluation gathered observations on the expected co-benefits of the projects reviewed, as well as the overall level of transparency in the documentation reviewed.