Climate Change
is the 21st century’s foremost development challenge
handled pro-actively, it’s also our greatest opportunity
Development contours
Enables clients to navigate the climate landscape
mobilising knowledge, finance, investments and
technology for low-emission outcomes.
Combines intellectual rigour with a healthy pragmatism
about what is possible in real-world situations.
Development Contours
enables clients to navigate
the climate landscape
How we can help
1
Understand the strategic implications, opportunities and threats presented by climate change
Products:
Reports; briefing papers; think-pieces; original analysis; literature reviews
2
Mobilise climate finance through project design and development
Products:
Project concept notes; project proposals; technical studies; project due diligence; project evaluations
GCF
Accelerating the transformational shift to a low-carbon economy – Mauritius
US$ 28 million + US$ 163 million co-finance
Ministry of Finance & Economic Development
GEF
South African wind energy programme (SAWEP) – South Africa
US$ 3 million + US$ 36 million co-finance
Department of Energy
LDCF
Promoting climate-resilient community-based regeneration of indigenious forests – Zambia
US$ 4 million + US$ 29 million co-finance
Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
3
Training and creative thinking
Products:
Workshop facilitation; training; stakeholder engagement
Stakeholder workshops to identify and prioritise climate initiatives
Training, learning from past experience, readiness support and capacity building
Brainstorming – leading to purposeful action and innovation
Development contours
enables clients to navigate
the climate landscape
The Challenges are clear
We need real-world solutions
Despite 25 years of concerted international efforts, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise
Immediate development needs are acute – 10% of the world’s population continue to live in extreme poverty. To deliver on the SDGs and to live within our carbon means will necessitate decoupling development from emissions
Decarbonisation must accelerate six-fold to stay within the 2°C global carbon budget – substantially faster than industrial labour productivity rose at the height of the Industrial Revolution
Reductions in ongoing emissions must be accompanied by removal of accumulated emissions from the atmosphere at unprecedented scale
Human ingenuity is remarkable.
The global economy doubles in size every 20 years.
The pace of progress is breathtaking in areas as diverse as
energy storage, bioengineering, materials science,
artificial intelligence, fintech and agriculture
So why do we continue
to struggle?
Bridging the gaps
Imagination Gap
New technologies, new ideas and new business models abound. How do we ensure that all the tools at our disposal – enhancing the climate role of central banks, for example, or leveraging mobile money services – are effectively deployed?
Complexity Gap
Many of the interventions deployed to address climate change are themselves characterised by market failures – for example, information uncertainties and asymmetries. Barrier removal strategies are just as often required for the interventions as they are for the core problem.
Systems Gap
Energy rebound. Utility death spirals. Electricity capacity markets. Leakage.
System teleconnections abound. Unforeseen consequences can easily arise if policies or investments are considered in isolation.
Implementation Gap
Undertaking climate change action ‘on the ground’ is not easy. Esoteric conceptual problems can pale into insignificance when practical challenges such as complex permitting requirements, bureaucratic red tape, lack of data, local community dynamics and other factors come into play.
Moving from the smooth curves, elegant formulae and rational actors beloved of modellers and policy-makers to real-world deployment and implementation is a delicate balance of art and science. With an intimate understanding of both the ‘thinking’ and the ‘doing’ of climate change, Development Contours can help you to bridge the gaps.