Trust collateral: The missing variable in climate finance mobilization
This essay is the first of seven that Devex will be producing in partnership with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation as part of The next frontier: Reimagining financing for development and growth — a series convening diverse global voices to redefine collaboration and unlock capital for future growth.
Development finance in 2026 is operating under a joint constraint that has become structural: a tighter funding environment and soaring need. Official development assistance, or ODA, fell by 9% in 2024 and continued to tighten through 2025, even as the demand for funding intensifies.
This juxtaposition is especially pronounced in climate finance. To meet global net-zero targets, necessary investment hovers in the trillions, far exceeding the current capacity of public balance sheets. Furthermore, the financing burden sits heavily on emerging markets and low- and middle-income countries, which face the highest costs of capital and are simultaneously the most exposed to the systemic shocks of a warming planet.
In this environment, mobilizing the capital to address climate change will depend on conversion: translating catalytic intent into transactions that investors can underwrite, regulators can defend, and delivery agencies can execute. The scale of this mobilization over the coming decade will be determined by institutions that can produce “trust collateral” — the bundle of governance arrangements, data integrity, verification pathways, decision protocols, and delivery discipline that allows private balance sheets to commit to green projects across jurisdictions and delivery chains with confidence.
By lowering the “cost of deciding,” trust collateral aims to streamline the interface between global investors and emerging market projects, creating the “decision-ready” conditions required for speed and scale.
Explore the essay to discover the five pillars of trust collateral and how they are being used to turn climate ambition into investable deal-flow.
This content is produced in partnership with CIFF as part of The next frontier: Reimagining financing for development and growth — a series convening diverse global voices to redefine collaboration and unlock capital for future growth.
About the authors
Mercedes Vela Monserrate
Mercedes Vela Monserrate is the CEO of the Global Climate Finance Centre, where she leads efforts to mobilize private capital at scale into energy transition, climate-related infrastructure, and emerging market investment opportunities. Prior to GCFC, Mercedes led Finance Sector Partnerships at COP28, playing a central role in shaping international engagement with financial institutions around energy transition and infrastructure financing. She also previously served as head of sustainable finance at Abu Dhabi Global Market. Mercedes also held senior roles at Morgan Stanley, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, and the European Parliament.
Khalid Tebe
Khalid Tebe is director of climate policy, regulations, and market mechanisms at the Global Climate Finance Centre, where he leads work on climate finance policy, carbon markets, and transition-aligned regulatory frameworks. His experience spans Track I and Track II diplomacy, government, and international policy, including leading net-zero strategy development, NDC enhancement processes, and carbon market regulatory design, and advising on Article 6 cooperation and nature-related finance. He has served as a U.N. climate negotiator on Article 6 and is a member of the UNFCCC roster of experts for the Article 6.4 mechanism.
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