CoST, the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative, has launched a new Climate Finance Portal Prototype designed to demonstrate transparency, accountability, and participation in climate finance.  This tool shows how the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS) can be applied to infrastructure investments to analyze climate finance and sustainability considerations. An updated Guidance Note on Transparency in Climate Finance has been released along with the portal, providing practical steps for entities involved in these projects.

This new platform joins the list of our tools and standards developed during the last decade to help government, media, civil society, and other stakeholders to promote transparency, accountability, and participation in infrastructure planning and delivery.

The new  allows for the real-time publication of key data related to climate finance across all stages of an infrastructure project’s lifecycle. It provides detailed insights into project financing conditions, climate mitigation and adaptation outcomes, and public consultations. Additionally, it offers insights into the entities responsible for managing the funds, including accredited institutions and co-financing ratios.

The infrastructure sector accounts for a staggering 79% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with the energy and transport sectors being significant contributors. Given the sector’s critical role in both causing and mitigating climate change, it is essential to ensure that infrastructure investments are both transparent and effectively managed. An estimated $4.3 trillion is required to tackle the climate crisis by 2030, and transparency in how these funds are allocated and used is crucial to ensuring that they have the intended impact.

The Guidance Note on Transparency in Climate Finance expands on this by offering a step-by-step approach for procuring entities to disclose infrastructure-related climate finance data. The guidance emphasizes the importance of publishing data on projects’ alignment with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Paris Agreement, ensuring climate finance genuinely supports global sustainability goals.

With 33 proactive data points, the Guidance Note ensures that stakeholders—from governments to civil society—can access essential information, reducing the risks of mismanagement and corruption that often plague complex infrastructure investments. The Prototype and the Guidance Note are being introduced at a crucial juncture when climate finance is of heightened importance, particularly in vulnerable regions. Infrastructure projects in the Global South, which contribute less to emissions but are disproportionately affected by climate change, necessitate transparent financial oversight to guarantee that climate funds are allocated to the intended projects and populations.

In collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), CoST’s latest datasets and Guidance Note (in three languages: English, Spanish, and Portuguese) reaffirm our dedication to tackling transparency challenges and ensuring that every dollar invested in climate finance is effectively used to achieve mitigation and adaptation goals. We hope this allows stakeholders, from governments to civil society, to monitor whether the funds are effectively used for climate mitigation and adaptation purposes​.

For more information, visit CoST website or contact our team at info@infrastructuretransparency.org.