About the World Bank Carbon Finance Unit

The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit’s (CFU) initiatives are part of the larger global effort to combat climate change, and go hand in hand with the World Bank and its Environmernt Department ’s mission to reduce poverty and improve living standards in the developing world.  The CFU uses money contributed by governments and companies in OECD countries to purchase project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The emission reductions are purchased through one of the CFU’s carbon funds on behalf of the contributor, and within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or Joint Implementation (JI).

Unlike other World Bank development products, the CFU does not lend or grant resources to projects, but rather contracts to purchase emission reductions similar to a commercial transaction, paying for them annually or periodically once they have been verified by a third party auditor. The selling of emission reductions – or carbon finance – has been shown to increase the bankability of projects, by adding an additional revenue stream in hard currency, which reduces the risks of commercial lending or grant finance. Thus, carbon finance provides a means of leveraging new private and public investment into projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thereby mitigating climate change while contributing to sustainable development. Read more