Climate, Clean Energy, and Biodiversity Finance

UNCDF is tackling the interconnected challenges of climate change, clean energy access, and biodiversity conservation in Least Developed Countries through innovative financing mechanisms and strategic investments that aim to drive financing to underserved, high-risk markets.

Recognizing that Least Developed Countries are disproportionately impacted by climate change and biodiversity loss, UNCDF employs concessional loans, grants, and guarantees to de-risk investments in nature-positive enterprises and clean energy projects. These efforts empower local governments, businesses, and communities to build resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance biodiversity, and foster sustainable economic growth.

By advancing decentralized and renewable energy projects, UNCDF helps support green economic growth and expand clean energy access in underserved areas, while creating jobs, and contributing to inclusive development and energy security.

UNCDF also integrates biodiversity conservation into sustainable business models by utilizing tailored financial instruments and blended finance mechanisms. These approaches catalyze additional financing for ecosystems and help restore natural capital, ensuring that biodiversity is embedded as a critical asset in economic planning and investments.

By addressing the specific vulnerabilities of Least Developed Countries, UNCDF ensures a balanced approach to climate resilience, environmental stewardship, and sustainable development. These efforts work to foster inclusive growth and empower countries to transition toward a future where climate adaptation, clean energy access, and biodiversity conservation coexist harmoniously, meeting the demands of a changing world and protecting the planet for future generations.

Local Transformative Finance

At the UN Capital Development Fund, we understand that global change starts at the local level.

Our work in local transformative finance helps countries tackle the triple challenge of improving human well-being, strengthening environmental sustainability, and accommodating rapid urbanization.

We work with local governments to improve financial ecosystems that optimize the ability of regions, towns, cities and local governments to function as an accelerator of global development goals.

Our forward-looking solutions build on over 20 years of experience in local government finance and local economic development finance, helping drive local investment for global results.

Local investment for global results.

Inclusive Digital Economies

UNCDF leverages its experience in digital financial inclusion to promote inclusive digital economies in Least Developed Countries, recognizing that digital finance is a primary route to financial inclusion. However, financial inclusion is not the end goal; it is a means to multiple ends.

UNCDF aims to ensure that everyone can access and benefit from a broad range of meaningful services built on digital platforms, not just basic mobile services. Digital financial services are foundational, enabling local innovation, sustainability of new services, and creation of marketplaces for various products.

Digital financial inclusion is directly contributing to the emergence of digital economies, and vice versa.

To achieve this, UNCDF provides capital and technical support to expand access to services that increase opportunities and reduce vulnerabilities in emerging digital economies. Through flexible grant and loan instruments, UNCDF supports a wide range of products and services across sectors including finance, agriculture, education, health, and transportation.

UNCDF works with both public and private sectors to ensure services meet the needs of key segments such as youth, women, migrants, refugees, and Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Sustainable Food Systems Finance

UNCDF is driving the transformation of food systems in Least Developed Countries by deploying innovative financing solutions that enhance sustainability, resilience, and inclusivity.

Recognizing the pivotal role of smallholder farmers, Micro-, Small-, and Medium-sized Enterprises and local governments in global food production, UNCDF focuses on mobilizing capital for investments that strengthen food security and improve livelihoods.

Using tools such as concessional loans, guarantees, and blended finance mechanisms, UNCDF enables public and private investments in sustainable agriculture, value-chain development, and climate-smart practices, while facilitating investments in critical infrastructure, including irrigation, transport, and energy systems. These investments enhance productivity, improve access to markets, and create opportunities for inclusive economic growth.

For private enterprises, UNCDF designs and pilots tailored financing solutions to overcome barriers to growth, enhance resilience, and improve access to technology and markets. These efforts can help local businesses to drive food system innovation and sustainability.

By leveraging technology, UNCDF provides small-scale producers and value-chain actors with access to finance and critical services. These digital tools support climate-resilient farming, improve supply-chain efficiency, and enable data-driven decision making, to help future-proof food systems in the face of a changing climate.

Aligned with global frameworks and in collaboration with United Nations entities and other stakeholders, UNCDF works to drive systemic change. Its commitment to sustainable food systems ensures the creation of equitable and inclusive food production models that not only improve nutritional outcomes but also build resilient economies and protect natural resources.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

UNCDF focuses on deploying scalable innovative financing through grants, loans and guarantees to promote livelihoods of women and girls and to build their economic resilience, especially in Least Developed Countries. UNCDF provides capital in partnership with local intermediaries and financial service providers through innovative de-risking financing mechanisms to support gender-responsive or women-led micro enterprises as well as growth-oriented Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises by women. Through technical assistance and grants, UNCDF works with governments to support gender-responsive economic opportunities, better social and infrastructure services especially in urban areas. For UNCDF, a major strategic objective is to promote economic empowerment of women and girls in last-mile economies by catalyzing transformative systemic change in partnership with governments, local banks, women’s groups, and the private sector.