This is how Norfund should be scaled up
The Norwegian Parliament has asked the government to strengthen Norfund's Climate Investment Fund. The way it's done is crucial.
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Main moments
On June 10, 2025, a broad political majority voted to scale up the Climate Investment Fund, durante la previsione del Storting del Climato 2035. Desire to scale up received the support of all parties except the FrP, and the government is now to return to Parliament with a plan for this. It should happen in the right way, whether the scaling up is to have a net positive effect, and whether it is to be realistic to reach a level that really catches on.
Today, the world's poorest are paying for the investments of the Climate Investment Fund, although the gains benefit all of humanity, and they are expected to bring significant returns financially. Questo è porque 100 por cento di tutte le contribuzioni di capitale a Norfund, di cui la funzione del Climato Investment Fund è un parte, ha viato il budget aiuto. In total, they have received NOK 32 billion since 1997, including 8 billion which is now in the Climate Investment Fund.
Current appropriation practices are illiberal and unreasonable, for the capital deposits are not pure spending, and aren't they assistenza, . On the state budget, only 25 percent of transfers are carried as expenditures, the rest as capital investments (“below the line”). Moreover, for the Climate Investment Fund, its purpose is a purely global common good (avoided emissions), with no particularly high relevance for developing countries (cf. The broadcast selection in 2023's proposal for bifurcation).
Nel administrativo a decisione del Parlamento, deve seguro:
- Removing the risk capital requirement for capital deposits in the Climate Investment Fund. O investimentos pode ser considerado en mercado, fabricado con investitori privados na equipo de termes, y proporciona un commensurat de resultado con la risque. Conducting 100 percent as a loan transaction (“below the line”) is entirely in line with the state's budget regulations. In establishing a new Ukraine mandate, a precedent has also been established that different mandates under Norfund may have different risk capital requirements.
- Reducing the risk capital requirement also for Norfund's development mandate. Today's requirement of 25 percent should be adjusted after more than twenty-five years of empiricism and positive returns.
- Stop counting loan transactions (90 items) as aid. Spending should be counted as aid, not capital investments. This is in line with the proposal of the Solberg government for the Climate Investment Fund in 2021, but subsequently amended by the Støre government. Without a change like this, the 1% target for Norwegian aid could act as a for how much the Climate Investment Fund can be scaled up, and not reach required levels.
- Earned equity should count as risk capital, and Norfund should get exemption from loss provision on new capital deposits as long as the surplus fund and accumulated risk capital Rallying is at a sufficient level. The Government should, in consultation with Norfund, make an assessment of what level this is, relative to the basic fund capital. Today, this level stands at 115 percent, due to Norfund's NOK 19 billion in retained equity since 1997. It is much more than necessary to secure government investment.
This is a summary of the report. The full report is only available in Norwegian. E-mail kontakt@langsikt.no to request an English version.
