Rationale
Tracking investment and financing is an important element to measure progress towards climate-related objectives and goals. There are, however, significant data, methodological and knowledge gaps, and available information is scattered. Further research and better co-ordination of on-going initiatives are required to improve their identification, measurement or estimation and reporting.
Against this backdrop, the aim of the Research Collaborative is to facilitate the sharing of best-available data, expertise and information to advance policy-relevant research to address country- and international-level information needs.
The body of work developed under the Research Collaborative contributes to the knowledge base being gathered by the OECD Centre on Green Finance and Investment.
Work streams
Measuring publicly-mobilised private finance for climate action in developing countries
Since 2013, Research Collaborative has work explored data availability and methods for measuring the effects of public interventions in mobilising private finance for climate projects in developing countries. This work is conducted jointly with the OECD Development Assistance Committee, in close collaboration with bilateral and multilateral development finance providers, as well as with further analytical input from other research organisations. The research and methods being developed by the OECD as well as the estimates it produces, play an important role in building a common understanding of key technical issues within the international community, including in the context of climate finance reporting under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Tracking investment and finance flows towards assessing their consistency with climate objectives
In 2014, the Research Collaborative conducted an assessment of potential data sources for tracking overall volumes of climate-related private finance. In 2018, this work stream was revived and further broadened to investigate options for tracking investments and financing in the context of assessing progress towards Article 2.1c of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, which calls for making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development. Such tracking implies a scope encompassing all geographies and types of finance, as well as both flows which are consistent with climate objectives and those which are not. Research Collaborative work in this area focuses on data and analytical gaps not addressed by existing tracking initiatives, with which co-operation and synergies are sought.
Cycle of work
For both work streams, the aim is to facilitate the progressive institutionalisation of tracking at institutional, country and international levels. This is being achieved by ensuring positive feedback loops between initial exploratory research on possible frameworks and methods as well as available data, follow on work to test these in practice in the context of pilot studies, which then informs regular data collection and production of policy-relevant estimates and indicators.
