SEED Practitioner Labs: Climate Finance

SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance invite leading investors, banks, development finance institutions, foundations, governments, innovators and intermediaries to jointly address major financing challenges that face small and medium-sized eco-inclusive enterprises and climate-smart infrastructure investment in developing and emerging economies. Lab participants are empowered to turn challenges into solutions as they develop tangible and robust prototypes that innovate the next generation of climate finance products.

The labs are hands-on and engage participants in output-oriented exchanges which facilitate peer learning between participants from different organisations, countries and sectors, strengthen the product implementation capacity of lab participants and build a network of partners to launch the climate finance products.

The SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance have facilitated the design of innovative climate finance products and generated key impacts:

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Expert practitioners participated

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Climate finance products developed

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Leading organisations represented

How does the SEED Labs process work?

During the SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance process, practitioners pool their expertise to prototype financial products which drive investment in climate-smart solutions and improve climate resilience, refine these prototypes and mobilise partnerships to successfully launch the climate finance prototypes in target markets. Practitioners are organised throughout the process into smaller product development groups of five to ten participants who lead prototype design, refinement and implementation. The product development groups offer a close-knit forum for face-to-face and digital knowledge exchange between participating practitioners.

1 | KICK-OFF LAB

Co-create climate finance product prototypes by applying the expertise of practitioners from diverse sectors and backgrounds and SEED's design-thinking tools and collaborative facilitation methods.

The initial Kick-Off Lab challenges practitioners to jointly prototype innovative and context-relevant climate finance products based on the identification of key challenges. SEED facilitates the co-creation process by using our prototyping tools and interactive moderation approach which enlists the insights and feedback of peers across product development groups. Practitioners come away from the Kick-Off Lab having transformed major environmental and social challenges into opportunities for climate finance innovation.

2 | PRODUCT REFINEMENT

Refine climate finance product prototype and mobilise resources at product development group-level.

Each individual product development group further refines its climate finance prototype and prepares the product for implementation through group-level meetings with the support of SEED tools and facilitation. During this phase, key partners are identified and resources are mobilised to launch the product following the Transition Lab.

3 | SCALE-UP LAB

Incorporate feedback on the climate finance product prototype, roadmap product scale-up and fortify partnerships for the next stages of product development and launch.

The Transition Lab brings back together all practitioners to showcase their prototypes and share their refinement and implementation milestones. This follow-up Lab emphasises in-depth feedback and road-mapping for the subsequent stages of product piloting.

4 | DELIVER CLIMATE-SMART FINANCING

Circulate final climate finance product concept note and bring product to market in order to drive forward green economy solutions in the finance sector.

After the Transition Lab, SEED supports product development groups to finalise market analysis and product concept notes for use in approaching potential investors and partners. These concept notes serve the basis for the initial stages of product launch and piloting. From here, practitioners are equipped with the knowledge and partnerships required to deliver climate finance products that offer solutions for green economies.

Who is selected to participate in the SEED Labs?

Participants in the SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance are selected from a wide variety of organisations including microfinance institutions, commercial banks, development finance institutions, impact investors, philanthropic institutions, NGOs with a strong finance focus, corporate social investors, venture capital and angel investors, government authorities. Practitioners involved in the SEED Labs process are organised into smaller product development groups around core environmental and social challenges and equipped with the hands-on and collaborative tools and facilitation techniques to transform challenges into innovative climate finance solutions.

Practitioners are selected to participate and organised in the SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance based on their expertise and commitment to driving innovation in the sector.

ADVISORS

Offer ideas and feedback, pose informed questions and support at various stages of climate finance product refinement.

Discover innovative SEED Labs for Climate Finance product outputs

The 2018 SEED Practitioner for Labs for Climate Finance series in India, Thailand and Uganda brought together around 200 leading investors, banks, development finance institutions, foundations, governments, innovators and intermediaries to jointly prototype tangible solutions to major climate finance challenges. Lab practitioners, facilitated by SEED Prototyping Tools, turned challenges into solutions as they designed and mobilised support for robust prototypes that innovate the next generation of climate finance products for their target markets.

Discover the major challenges and climate-smart finance solutions developed through the SEED Practitioner Labs for Climate Finance by exploring country-specific climate finance product prototype outcome reports.

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