Skip navigation
Hand touching a solar panel surface.
Project

Mobilizing private investment for climate and nature

Mobilizing private sector investment is essential for achieving climate and nature goals in lower-income and lower-middle-income countries. To contribute to these efforts, the Mobilizing Private Investment for Climate and Nature (MPICaN) project investigates how private firms make financing and investment decisions at the project level in three sectors: renewable energy, industrial decarbonization, and nature and adaptation.

Active project

2025–2031

Mobilizing private sector investment is essential for achieving climate and nature goals in lower-income and lower-middle-income countries. Focusing on the demand side of capital – businesses and project developers – the Mobilizing Private Investment for Climate and Nature (MPICaN) project examines how private companies make financing and investment decisions in climate- and nature-related sectors.

The project aims to support policymakers by generating practical insights into investment decision-making and barriers to finance. It focuses on three sectors: renewable energy; nature and biodiversity, including adaptation; and industrial decarbonization.

Key objectives include:

  • understand financing and investment decision-making at the project level

  • identify enabling conditions for investment across sectors and country contexts

  • examine why projects fail to reach financial close or encounter operational challenges

  • synthesize findings to inform actions by development partners to improve investment outcomes

The project will collect data through direct engagement with project developers, investors and public sector actors. This will provide evidence on the factors influencing financing decisions, including transaction costs associated with guarantees, currency risks, market saturation, taxation and incentives, regulatory frameworks, infrastructure access, coordination among development partners, political instability and government capacity.

The project builds on strong partnerships across research, private finance and governance organizations, ensuring that the findings are scientifically robust, policy-relevant and actionable. Key partners include SEB Investment Management’s Microfinance and Impact group and Lund University.

Partners and funders

The project brings together four complementary partners to ensure both academic rigour and real-world impact. The project partners are:

The project is funded by Formas.

SEI team

Daniel Duma
Daniel Duma

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Maximilian Bruder
Maximilian Bruder

Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Annika Hilgert

Research Associate

SEI Headquarters

Aaron Maltais
Aaron Maltais

Team Leader: Energy & Industry Transitions

SEI Headquarters

Katherine Browne
Katherine Browne

Team Leader: International Climate Risk and Adaptation; Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Karen Brandon
Karen Brandon

Senior Communications Officer and Editor

Communications

SEI Oxford

Maria Nkhonjera

Research Fellow

SEI Africa

Carly Evaeus
Carly Evaeus

Fellow

SEI Headquarters