GFI launches “Transactions to Transitions” initiative as a scalable, approach to accelerate economic transformation and resilience

by Green Finance Institute | November 5, 2025

New approach seeks to bridge the gap between political commitments and commercial imperatives, turning ambition into action through coordinating action, from policy design and institutional reform to pipeline development and transaction execution

T2T will deliver financial transactions at scale, aligning public and private sector strategies with funding to drive systemic change

Approach builds upon GFI’s previous delivery and experience with the UK National Wealth Fund Taskforce, Coalition of Energy Efficient Buildings, Global Clean Power Alliance Finance Mission, Revenues for Nature initiative and TNFD

London, 5 October 2025: The Green Finance Institute (GFI) today announces the launch of “Transactions to Transitions” (T2T), a pioneering approach designed to address the urgent need to accelerate climate finance execution and drive sector-wide economic transition.

Despite ambitious commitments from governments and financial institutions, existing capital flows cover a fraction of the investment required to transform sectors, deploy technology, or deliver the promised transition to a sustainable, healthier, resilient future, especially in emerging and developing markets.

T2T sets out a new approach, moving from climate politics to climate economics, and from alignment on ambition to alignment on execution.

By co-designing climate policy to directly support real-world financial flows, and co-ordinating the value chain that spans policy to institutional capital deployment, T2T aims to accelerate investment where it matters most, bridging ambition and action to deliver measurable transition outcomes. This will turn the dialogue of public and private actors into an effective process of convening, advising and executing on investment outcomes. T2T is an evolution of the approach developed and applied by GFI, whose work with its partners and supporters to date has mobilised £77 billion in committed capital over six years, reinforcing its reputation for effective, on-the-ground execution.

Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas, CEO of the Green Finance Institute, said: “The climate finance gap is not a problem of ambition, but of execution. Transactions to Transitions is about turning national commitments and sector plans into investable, scalable transactions that deliver real economy change. By aligning public and private sector strategies, we can create the flywheel effect needed to accelerate the pace of transition and unlock new asset classes for mainstream capital. At present, the public sector is asking where is the promised investment, and the private sector is asking where is the policy and where is the pipeline? This vicious circle must become a virtuous one”

T2T is a radical departure from big tent initiatives that focus on convening stakeholders around high-level objectives, to one with a very clear set of real economy outcomes, delivered by expert teams who are aligned behind driving real economy change. It recognises that from political commitments, to policy, to development capital to private investment – there is a complex public/private stakeholder ‘value chain’, which must be brought together and aligned.

Key features of the T2T approach include:

• Integration with country ambition: Linking financial work programmes directly to COP targets and national climate commitments, ensuring governments commit to credible investment strategies and policy reforms.
• Translation of targets: Turning high-level commitments into concrete sector and geographic investment priorities, developing replicable sectoral archetypes.
• Value chain integration: Coordinating the entire finance value chain, from policy design and institutional reform to pipeline development and transaction execution.
• Scaling transactions: Building market and enabling infrastructure around Development Finance Institutions (DFI)-led transactions to allow them to scale and mainstream.
• Catalytic capital deployment: Using blended finance and risk-sharing mechanisms to attract private finance at scale.
• Innovative investor engagement: Creating investable transactions that meet the risk-return appetite of financial institutions.

T2T, led by the GFI and building on its experience of standing up previous global initiatives, will focus each step of the value chain on attracting capital and will be delivered through expert, integrated teams able to structure transactions, mobilise structured finance and make projects bankable for mainstream private investors. The initiative will be successful through close collaboration with governments, Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), DFIs, municipalities, and institutional investors to pilot innovative transactions, disseminate investment playbooks and create new funds, products and asset classes.

The GFI, which was established in 2019, has built a reputation for thought leadership whilst emphasising pragmatic delivery which has resulted in their appointment to Chair the UK National Wealth Fund Taskforce,  lead the Revenues for Nature initiative with the UNDP and UN Biofin and Co-Chair the launch of TNFD, subsequently hosting the secretariat in partnership with UNEP FI and UNDP. As the joint lead delivery partner of the Global Clean Power Alliance Finance Mission with the World Bank, the T2T approach informs GFI’s work on high quality energy investment planning for the Finance Mission.

Whilst no single organisation can deliver on all aspects of the value chain, the GFI has significant experience in building critical aspects of in-country and in-sector platforms to catalyse successful transitions. Examples of these are:

• Sector transition – Built environment: Property Linked Finance (PLF) provides a mechanism to fund energy efficiency retrofits by linking finance directly to the property rather than the owner. GFI is leading efforts to establish PLF as a trusted, investable product, working across policy, market, and financial structures to enable large-scale adoption across residential and commercial sectors.
• Country transition – Philippines Transport: The Philippines’ transport sector accounts for around 23% of national GHG emissions, with jeepneys alone contributing 15.5%. Despite government-led modernisation programmes, only 4% of the fleet has been replaced and fewer than 1,000 EV charging stations are operational nationwide. High vehicle costs, a fragmented operator base, and short-term fiscal incentives have slowed progress. GFI is working with the Department of Finance, Climate Change Commission, development banks, and private investors to design financial products that make electrification bankable, equitable, and investable – aligning with the government’s Public Transport Modernisation Program (PTMP).
• Country transition – Brazil: Brazil’s industrial sectors are central to its decarbonisation strategy. GFI is working with the Ministries of Development, Industry and Commerce (MDIC) and Mines and Energy (MME) through the UK–Brazil Industrial Decarbonisation Hubs to align finance and real economy policies, and to unlock international private investment for the country’s industrial transition.
• Sector transition – Nature: Meeting global nature and biodiversity goals requires embedding environmental priorities into policy, markets, and financial systems. GFI is developing approaches to move from policy commitments to investable, revenue-generating models that attract private capital into nature restoration, sustainable land use, and biodiversity protection.

T2T builds on the breadth of existing activity, including Country Platforms, and will work with partners to ensure additionality and coherence. The initiative is designed to scale from the start, selecting replicable sector and project archetypes across regions. Its launch has been accompanied by the publication of the “Transactions to Transitions” white paper which can be found here.