UK Announces New Partnerships with Financial Sector to Drive Sustainable Growth

• The UK’s Minister of State for Development, Anneliese Dodds, announced up to £100 million for MOBILIST, the UK’s flagship public markets programme.
• New funding and partnerships will unlock investment opportunities, as part of a new development approach supporting sustainable economic growth overseas.
• Government to partner MOBILIST to deliver on the Plan for Change by tackling climate change and driving growth at home.

Efforts to address the climate crisis and boost growth in the Global South and at home will be enhanced under a partnership approach between the government and the UK financial sector, the UK’s Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds announced today (Monday 3 February).

The Minister announced up to £100 million for the UK’s flagship public markets programme MOBILIST which will provide businesses focused on delivering the SDGs with the anchor funding and expert advice they need to list on stock exchanges around the world, allowing them to attract significant sums of additional private investment. 

She also celebrated the issuance of the first Climate Investment Fund (CIF) Capital Markets Mechanism (CCMM) bond last month, which raised $500 million (approximately £400 million) for energy and clean technology projects in low- and middle-income countries. The CCMM, launched by the Prime Minister at COP29, is a new financial mechanism to leverage future loan repayments by issuing bonds on capital markets.

Speaking at the London Stock Exchange, Minister Dodds praised the “expertise, experience and dynamism” of the UK’s financial services sector, and pledged to put this expertise “at the heart of how we meet the opportunities and challenges of our time”, including accelerating delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These seek to address global challenges, including poverty, inequality, and climate change, to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, by 2030.

Minister Dodds set out how investment in the Global South is an opportunity for UK financial services “to marry investment in the economies and technologies of the future, with the experience and expertise of the City of London”, adding that the government will hold up its end of the bargain by working internationally to reform the global financial system to provide greater opportunity and stability.

Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds said: “With businesses and the government working hand in hand to drive investment in the Global South, we can unlock growth, jobs, trade, investment, and pride in our economy overseas and here at home.

“This government is enabling the financial services sector to flourish and use its expertise and depth of capital to invest in the markets and technologies of the future.

“Through partnerships like this, we will deliver on the Plan for Change, drive domestic growth, and create a world free from poverty on a liveable planet.”

The MOBILIST funding is expected to generate between £400 million and £600 million of new investments in businesses across emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. These investments will support economic growth, sustainable development, and climate action in local markets.

As today’s announcements demonstrate, this government’s modern approach to development focuses on harnessing the power of the private sector in mobilising the finance emerging markets need to grow. This will create future export markets for the UK and new overseas investment opportunities, supporting domestic growth and delivering on the government’s Plan for Change. It will also make the UK safer and more stable by tackling the drivers of conflict, climate crises and economic decline in partner countries.

UK Climate Minister Kerry McCarthy said: “This is a historic moment for tackling the climate crisis, with the first bond raising $500 million to accelerate the global clean energy transition and support the flow of climate finance to developing countries.

“Public finance alone cannot tackle the scale of this challenge, and this mechanism will help leverage the private finance needed to support those on the frontline of a changing climate.

“Its listing in the UK positions London as a green finance capital. By working with partners such as the World Bank the UK can drive the action needed to grow the economy and reap the rewards of net zero.”

Minister Dodds made the announcements during a speech to the UK financial sector, including pension funds, insurers, banks, and development finance organisations, after joining a market opening ceremony at the London Stock Exchange.

Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, added: “Flows of investment are vital to generating sustainable growth both in the UK and around the world. London’s capital markets have long played a leading role in driving flows of capital to where they need to go, and we welcome the focus on fuelling growth and supporting the just transition to net zero.

“As part of these efforts, we are proud to celebrate the listing of the Climate Investment Funds’ Capital Markets Mechanism on the London Stock Exchange. This pioneering bond issuance programme not only brings a new financing tool to our market but is facilitating critical investment in sustainable and clean assets.”

About MOBILIST 

A flagship UK government programme, MOBILIST (Mobilising Institutional Capital Through Listed Product Structures) identifies and invests in scalable, replicable transactions on public markets that help deliver the climate transition and the Sustainable Development Goals. MOBILIST invests capital on commercial terms, delivers technical assistance, conducts research, and builds partnerships to catalyse investment in newly listed products. Since its inception, MOBILIST has invested £87 million in equity and equity commitments, directly mobilising £247.5 million in private capital.

Examples of initiatives supported by MOBILIST include:

• Citicore Renewable Energy Company: in June 2024, MOBILIST supported the Philippines in its transition to renewable energy through a £9.9 million local currency investment in the initial public offering (IPO) of Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC) on the Philippines Stock Exchange, Inc. (PSE), helping to decarbonise the Philippines power generation fleet by rapidly rolling out wind and solar, adding 2.3GW by the end of 2025 and 5GW by 2028. MOBILIST’s investment supported £63.7 million of private investment, a mobilisation ratio of 6.25.
• Bayfront Infrastructure Capital IV: MOBILIST’s £4 million equity investment in September 2023 into a $410 million securitisation vehicle that listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and enabled the greening of bank balance sheets in Southeast Asia and attracted international investors into developing countries’ infrastructure. MOBILIST’s investment supported £90.5 million in private investment, a mobilisation ratio of 22.9.

About the CIF & CCMM

The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) were launched in 2008 to invest in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) climate projects. To date, the CIF has leveraged over $64bn from $12.3bn of donor contributions, supporting over 400 projects in over 80 countries. The UK (led by DESNZ) is a leading donor and chairs its Joint Trust Fund Committee.

The CIF Capital Markets Mechanism (CCMM) was launched by the Prime Minister at COP29, and the bonds were issued on the London Stock Exchange in January 2025. It is a new financial mechanism to leverage future loan repayments (reflows) from previous investments made under the CIF’s Clean Technology Fund (CTF), by issuing bonds on capital markets.