Take a look at our eligibility and selection criteria.
Target areas
CLIMATE MITIGATION FINANCE
Projects to reduce, limit or sequestrate GHG emissions.
REDD+
Projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and foster sustainable forestry and agriculture.
CLIMATE ADAPTATION FINANCE
Projects to adapt to current and expected effects of Climate Change.
Eligibility criteria
The ICFA is a 2 year acceleration program for start-up climate finance fund managers.
Are you a fund manager?
- First- or second-time fund manager
- Intention to set up a climate investment fund
- Investment vehicles and fund managers must be separate legal entities
Investing in climate finance?
- > 75% of target portfolio in either Climate Mitigation, Adaptation or REDD + projects
- Inclusion of ESG criteria in the investment process
- Exclusion policy applicable to 100% of the investment portfolio
With intention to generate positive impact?
- Double / triple bottom-line investment strategy
- Impact management and measurement methodology and reporting
- Respect of good governance principles
And ready to be accelerated?
- Sound concept supported by an advanced financial model
- Pipeline developed and proven experience in transaction closing
- Credible fundraising strategy
Selection criteria
Eligible applicants will have the opportunity to enter the selection process.
During the selection process your project and your team will be assessed on various features, including the following, as well as your readiness to be accelerated.
Team track record
- Fund managers raising their first- or second-time climate finance fund
- Track record and investment experience of team and individual members
- Entrepreneurial commitment and agile and innovative
- Skilled and knowledgeable in climate finance
- Capacity to make it happen
- Track records in deal structuring and transaction management
- Local presence and/or support of investees
- Demonstrate ability to make full-time commitment towards launching the fund
- Contribution to the Luxembourg climate finance ecosystem
Credible climate finance investment strategy
- > 75% of target portfolio in either Climate Mitigation, Adaptation or REDD + projects
- Fund concept supported by an advanced financial model
- Credible pipeline targeting positive environment and/or social impact
- Scalable and replicable investment strategy
- Double / triple bottom-line investment strategy
- Application of risk diversification criteria
Means to generate positive impact
- Inclusion of ESG criteria in the investment process
- Exclusion policy applicable to 100% of the investment portfolio
- Credible impact management and measurement methodology
- Advanced reporting framework, including definitions of KPIs
- Respect of good governance principle
- Commitment to creating long-lasting impacts
- Extra-financial support to investees
Fundraising capacity
- Credible fundraising strategy and access to target investors
- Global and domestic networking channels and capabilities
- Ability to communicate and convince investors
- Commitment, persistence and resources to complete the fundraising process
Selection Committee
The ICFA has appointed an independent Selection Committee, which uses its in-depth expertise in environmental, climate change and impact finance in order to propose a balanced selection of innovative and promising fund managers.
Baas is an expert in environment and climate change working for Lux-Development, the development cooperation agency of the Luxembourg government. He advises on environment and climate related matters and provides guidance and technical support to LuxDev’s various projects and programmes around the world. Currently a key objective is to integrate climate change action (adaptation and mitigation) as a cross-cutting priority into overall development work. In his current function he acts as focal point for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and he coordinates the agency's climate portfolio development. Further he advises on the LuxDev’s efforts to deliver on Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility. In partner countries Baas supports the strengthening of capacities, documents best practices, and fosters partnerships and collaboration.
Before joining LuxDev, he worked for PwC, EY, the Delegation of the European Union to Lao PDR, and the UN World Food Programme in the Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction unit. He is an alumnus of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and holds a MSc in earth system science and multilingual in English, French, German, and Luxembourgish.
Christopher is an independent advisor on climate and environmental finance. Until 2018 he was a long term staff member of EIB with a background covering development economics and finance, project finance, PPPs as well as conventional credits to corporate and banking customers. He started to develop serious concerns about climate and environmental degradation in the 1980s, in part having seen the environmental damage wrought by uncontrolled heavy industry in the CEE region and also being exposed to environmental and demographic stress in many developing countries. In his final role at EIB – leading a team focused on climate and environmental finance and junior risk products – he sought to ensure that EIB, the free world’s largest publicly owned bank, contributed appropriately to the climate change agenda, through scale (€20bn annually) and innnovation.
He is a member of the advisory councils for the OECD Centre for Green Finance and Investment and also the Climate Bond Initiative. He has served on the Supervisory Boards and Advisory Committees of numerous clean energy, environmental, infrastructure and carbon funds, and continues in this capacity as an Independent Director of fund vehicles.
Femke Bos is the Director Business Development, Strategy & IESG of Invest International. Invest International is set up in July 2021 by the Dutch Government and FMO, the Dutch Development Bank, to foster innovative solutions with the for global, SDG related, challenges in Emerging Markets and to make the necessary investments feasible.
She brings a wealth of experience in impact investing, project development and fund management in Emerging Markets covering themes as financial inclusion, energy and climate, water, agri-food, health and sustainable infrastructure. Prior to joining Invest International, she worked at Triodos Investment Management and FMO, where she held several (fund) management positions and set up the Triodos Microfinance Fund. During her career she also served as a Non- Executive Director on the boards of a number of Microfinance and SME banks in South East Asia.
Gregory is the founder and Managing Director of ORAXYS, a leading Luxembourg-based Private Equity firm that is expert in European growth capital and environmental impact investment.
Previously Gregory worked in Private Equity at Societe Generale Asset Management and in Mergers & Acquisitions at Andersen Corporate Finance. He has a 15 years background of deals in France, Benelux, Switzerland, England and in the United States.
Moreover, Gregory has been responsible for 2 years of the Environment sector at the French Ministry of Economy in Thailand.
He is in charge of sustainable finance issues in the field of climate action, international climate finance and sustainable development. Furthermore, he takes part in negotiations on the EU’s Sustainable Finance Strategy, COP, EU and UN sustainable development policies and other climate and macroeconomic policies. He is a member of several expert and working groups in fields of climate finance, sustainable development, environment and sustainable tax policies at the EU Council, European Commission and OECD including the UN Green Climate Fund.
Prior to joining Luxembourg’s Environment Ministry in 2014, Jimmy was involved in financial services in the tax department of KPMG Luxembourg. He holds MSc in economics and finance.
Dr. Claudia Hitaj is a Research & Technology Associate in the Environmental Sustainability and Circularity unit of the Luxembourg Institute of Science & Technology (LIST). She joined LIST in 2019 after working for six years as a Research Economist at the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. At LIST, Claudia is leading research on sustainable finance and has 30+ publications on various topics in energy, environmental, and agricultural economics. She is an expert in environmental LCA, in particular related to energy and agriculture projects. She serves as Luxembourg representative on ISO/TC207/SC7 Greenhouse gas management and related activities, ISO/TC207/SC4 Environmental performance evaluation, and ISO/TC322 Sustainable finance and is a member of LuxFlag’s Eligibility Committees for the Environment and ESG labels. Claudia holds a BA in Economics & Mathematics and BA in Biology, magna cum laude, from Yale University, an MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland.