GIF announces new Climate Advisory Group.

The Global Innovation Fund has appointed a team of expert advisors to support and elevate its work in climate adaptation.

The five appointees have forged distinguished careers as academics, advisors, authors and policymakers. Their deep expertise and diverse perspectives will help GIF identify and assess innovations that can make a meaningful contribution to improving the resilience of the world’s most climate-threatened people.

Since the launch of its Innovating for Climate Resilience sub-fund at COP26, GIF has built a portfolio of Adaptation and Resilience (A&R) investments and sees a deep connection between climate resilience and its mission of poverty reduction. The newly formed Climate Advisory Group (CAG) will provide up-to-date advice and insights into investment relevant trends, issues and developments in global climate negotiations, climate science and climate finance. They will also act as a bridge, providing potential leads and opportunities for the GIF investment pipeline. Collectively, the members bring expertise in biodiversity, agrifood systems, water management, disaster risk management and urban resilience.

Welcoming the appointment of the Climate Advisory Group, GIF CEO Dr Alix Peterson Zwane said:

“GIF is incredibly ambitious. We don’t specialise in particular sectors or countries: we want to find the most impactful adaptation innovations across all sectors across the developing world. That’s a challenge because climate threats are so varied and the responses so diverse.

“Appointing a Climate Advisory Group helps us comprehend the immense range of issues and opportunities. We can now draw on advice from an extremely distinguished and diverse group of climate practitioners, investors, development finance institutions and experts from public, private and academic sectors.”

The CAG’s role will include making expert recommendations: proposing sectoral or geographic specialists who can competently review and assess investment proposals submitted to GIF. They will also review and comment on GIF’s methodologies and results in gauging the impact of its adaptation investments.

GIF’s investees are already helping urban planners in small island states to map their flood vulnerabilities, allowing smallholder farmers in India to reduce post-harvest food waste and providing affordable clean water to Bangladeshis facing a wide range of climate threats, for example. In 2024, GIF will grow its climate resilience portfolio and assess every investment through a climate resilience lens.

Members of the Climate Advisory Group have been appointed for one year, which is renewable by mutual agreement. You can read their profiles here.