Blended finance for climate action

It takes policy support, commitment and also money to tackle climate change.

- Imran Arif

For the latter, Thailand needs around 5-7 trillion baht in climate finance to achieve its carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions by 2050 and 2065, respectively. However, that’s a target the country is still along way away from.

Relatively speaking, only 1.7 trillion baht has been spent on climate mitigation efforts between 2018 and May 2025. The picture for climate adaptation funding is much bleaker at only 148 billion baht.

This serious gap in funding was the major talking point during the launch of the 2025 Climate Finance Tracker last month by Climate Finance Network Thailand (CENT).

Across two panel discussions and two keynote addresses (comprising leading voices from the Thai government, Bank of Thailand, the World Bank, and leading financial and academic institutions), the message was clear: more climate finance is needed, and the mechanisms to raise it must appeal to more investors.

Why is there such a big difference in climate mitigation and adaptation funding? The answer is the private sector. A CENT presentation on the climate finance landscape shows that it is the biggest contributor to climate mitigation finance, at over half of the 1.7 trillion-baht amount, surpassing contributions from the government and state-owned enterprises. However, adaptation finance is almost solely done by the government, as there is less of a commercial reason to do so.

While funding for mitigation efforts still needs to be increased, it shows the strength of blended finance in action — namely, the critical role of private investments that support government efforts. So what more can be done to spur more activity, for both mitigation and adaptation outcomes?

BLENDED FINANCE IN A NUTSHELL