Finance in Common (FiCS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) launched the Financial Innovation Laboratory, denominated “FiCS Lab”. It is a global platform to help Public Development Banks (PDBs) in emerging markets and developing economies mobilize private capital and scale up climate finance.
FiCS Lab will combine the functions of an incubator and a task force, providing technical assistance and grants, and fostering innovation, knowledge exchange and collaboration between PDBs. The three key pillars on which this platform is based are:

• Pillar 1: Share and advance knowledge and best practices on financial innovation gaps, initiatives, and implementation.

• Pillar 2: Facilitate structured dialogues to standardize or harmonize approaches.

• Pillar 3: Support the incubation of specific financial innovations in institutions that are ready to act but need technical and/or financial support.

The first workstreams to be addressed include: i) Climate-resilient debt clauses, ii) Debt for nature/climate swaps, iii) Domestic carbon markets, and iv) Currency Risks.