Austria Confirms Support for IDB Climate Strategy with New Contribution to NDC Pipeline Accelerator Fund

The Federal Ministry of Finance of Austria signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to make a contribution of €1 million to the IDB’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) Pipeline Accelerator Trust Fund (ACL). 

This funding will enable the ACL to maintain its priority of supporting small and vulnerable nations while significantly increasing its emphasis on climate adaptation. This includes greater investments in nature-based solutions, the circular economy, blue and green economies, and e-mobility. Additionally, gender equality and inclusion will be integral to the ACL’s investment strategies. 

Since its establishment in 2017, the ACL has positioned itself as IDB’s leading fund for financing climate action and mobilizing capital towards climate-positive investments in partnership with both public and private sectors. To date, the ACL has secured over $37.5 million from various donors, including the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Austria’s own Federal Ministry of Finance. 

As of December 2024, the ACL has allocated $25.3 million to 72 technical cooperation projects. Moreover, ACL initiatives have facilitated the mobilization of $4.75 billion in lending from the IDB and its partners towards public and private climate-positive investments. 

Operating in 20 of the IDB’s 26 borrowing member countries, the ACL has transformed approaches to mitigation and adaptation investments by establishing the first regional fund dedicated to advancing electric mobility and green hydrogen in Latin America and the Caribbean, supporting the development of sovereign green and sustainability-linked bond markets, and creating innovative financing mechanisms to enable debt-for-nature swaps. 

The ACL advances the IDB’s climate change strategy through innovative financial instruments like debt-for-nature swaps and climate conversions. In Honduras, it supports sustainable mangrove management on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts by strengthening the capacities of small producers, MSMEs, and organizations in fishing, aquaculture, and tourism, while improving their access to financing. This fosters sustainable operations and enhances quality of life. 

The initiative integrates a financing mechanism to promote environmentally sustainable practices and resource management, contributing to mangrove conservation and coastal biodiversity. It is also linked to an IDB Lab operation that expands credit access for small-scale producers, including women and indigenous communities in artisanal fisheries and aquaculture.