Show us the money: Developing world seeks finance details for green projects

Finance took centre stage at the COP27 climate talks on Wednesday, with the United Nations experts publishing a list of projects worth $120 billion that investors could back to help poorer countries cut emissions and adapt to the impacts of global warming.

A $3-billion water transfer project between Lesotho and Botswana and a $10 million plan to improve the public water system in Mauritius were among dozens of projects listed, including 19 in Africa.

"We can now show that a meaningful pipeline of investible opportunities does exist across the economies that need finance most," Mahmoud Mohieldin, one of the UN appointed experts said in a statement to accompany the report.

In an effort to answer the argument by private sector financiers that it's too risky to invest more in emerging markets, the experts, pulled together a list of projects that could be funded more quickly.

After a year of meetings with stakeholders around the world, they released the initial list so that banks and others can assess the projects.