Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast Inside COP: Looking for a Plan in Finance - the trillion dollar transition
Oct 30, 2025
In this discussion, guest host Sue Reid, a Climate Finance Advisor at Global Optimism, breaks down the complexities of climate finance and emphasizes its crucial role in policy-making and market shifts. Joined by Avinash Persaud of the Inter-American Development Bank, they explore innovative solutions like debt swaps and the ReInvest+ initiative designed to channel private capital into developing countries. They also tackle the glaring gaps in the current climate goals and the need for smarter capital use to address climate vulnerabilities, with COP30 positioned as a potential turning point.
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Climate Finance Is Broad And Contextual
- Climate finance spans public and private flows, moving capital from high-carbon to clean solutions across markets and portfolios.
- Clarify which form of climate finance you mean when discussing policies or COP outcomes to avoid confusion.
Use COP To Signal Policy And System Reforms
- Use COP political signaling to push reforms that unblock private finance and align policies with the global stocktake outcomes.
- Translate stocktake calls (triple renewables, double efficiency, phase out fossil fuels) into national policy to shift markets.
Markets Still Distorted By Fossil Subsidies
- Some decarbonization attracts private capital automatically, but distorted markets and fossil fuel subsidies still slow progress.
- Removing subsidies and market distortions would accelerate profitable clean investment.