By Evelyn Hernandez, CoST Technical Director

As the world celebrates Open Gov Week, a global moment to champion transparency, participation, and accountability, Malawi is showing what open government can achieve in the fight against climate change.

For CoST – the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative, this year’s celebration shines a spotlight on a country that is turning openness into action and setting a powerful example for others to follow.

Across the globe, billions of dollars are being mobilised for climate action. Yet for many citizens, climate finance remains invisible. People often do not know where the money goes, which projects are funded, who benefits, or whether promised results are ever delivered.

At a time when climate change is already affecting lives and livelihoods, this lack of transparency weakens trust and increases the risks of corruption, waste, and inefficiency.

Malawi, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, decided to tackle this challenge head-on.

Through its Information Platform for Public Infrastructure (IPPI), Malawi has become the first country in the world to implement the climate finance module of the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS). In doing so, the country is pioneering a new approach to climate finance transparency.

Led by the Government of Malawi and supported by CoST, this innovation demonstrates how open government principles can help address some of the biggest climate finance challenges of our time.

Why climate finance transparency matters

Climate finance plays a critical role in building resilient infrastructure, protecting vulnerable communities, and supporting sustainable development. But in many countries, climate finance systems remain fragmented, difficult to monitor, and inaccessible to ordinary citizens.

People are often unable to see which projects are climate financed, how contracts are awarded, whether projects are delayed or over budget, or whether investments are truly delivering climate benefits.

The Open Government Partnership has identified transparency, accountability, public participation, and data quality as some of the biggest global challenges facing climate finance today.

And… Malawi’s IPPI is helping respond directly to those challenges.

A first-of-its-kind platform

The climate-financed projects section of the IPPI platform provides citizens, journalists, civil society organisations, and oversight institutions with access to structured information about public infrastructure investments linked to climate finance.

Through the platform, users can explore projects per climate objectives, project locations, budgets and funding sources, implementing agencies, contractors, and even potential “red flags” related to delays, environmental concerns, or procurement risks.

Today, Malawians can access information about projects such as the Wovwe Hydropower Plant Expansion Project or the installation of gabion baskets along the Likangala River, investments designed to strengthen climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience.

Importantly, the platform also strengthens public participation. Citizens are not simply passive observers; they are empowered to ask questions, monitor projects, and engage in conversations about how public resources are used via the “talk to us” interface.

For the first time, climate-financed infrastructure investments can be monitored in a more open, standardised, and accessible way. This is more than a technical achievement. It is a governance breakthrough.

By implementing the OC4IDS climate finance module, Malawi is transforming climate finance from something often difficult to trace into something citizens can follow, understand, and monitor.

Open government in climate action

As a member of the Open Government Partnership, Malawi has consistently demonstrated its commitment to strengthening transparency and citizen participation. The development of the IPPI climate finance platform shows how those commitments can translate into practical tools that improve people’s lives.

We trust Malawi’s experience will serve as an inspiration to others, offering an important lesson to the world: climate finance works better when it is open, even if it is only the beginning of a long way.

This Open Gov Week, Malawi reminds us that transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement can go hand in hand. And through partnerships between governments and civil society, countries can build more transparent, inclusive, and climate-resilient futures for everyone.

Malawi is also nominated for an International Collective Action Award from the Basel Institute of Governance – please vote for Malawi (and our partners at the the International Anti-Corruption Academy who are nominated in a different category). 

Evelyn is the Technical Director at CoST leading the technical assistance, capacity building services and supporting the design and implementation of CoST programmes globally. Evelyn previously served as CoST Head of Members leading the member programme and CoST Technical Advisor leading the development of the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS) and the Infrastructure Transparency Index.