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Eligibility & selection criteria

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 two-year acceleration program for first/second-time climate finance fund managers.

Are you an emerging fund manager?
  • First- or second-time fund manager or fund advisor
  • Intention to set up a climate investment vehicle
  • Investment vehicle and fund manager / fund advisor must be separate legal entities
Investing in climate finance?
  • > 75% of target portfolio in either Climate Change Mitigation, Climate Change Adaptation, or other EU Green Taxonomy pillars
  • Inclusion of ESG criteria in the investment process
  • ICFA’s exclusion policy applicable to 100% of the investment portfolio
With intention to generate positive impact and minimize negative impact?
  • Adoption of sustainable investment strategy, aligned with the EU Green Taxonomy
  • Identification of sustainability risks and principal adverse impact, and respect for Do No Significant Harm principle
  • Implementation of 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
  • Well-developed pipeline 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 proposal 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 or fund advisors 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 Brimer

Expert in environment and climate change at Lux-Development

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 Knowles

Independent advisor on climate and environmental finance

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

Director Business Development, Strategy & IESG at Invest International

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 Fayolle

Founder and Managing Director of Oraxys

Gregory Fayolle is the founder (2008) and Managing Director of ORAXYS, a leading Luxembourg-based ESG Growth Capital and LBO firm specialized in European SMEs with environment-friendly products and services.

Prior to become an entrepreneur in the finance industry, Gregory was working in Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions, respectively at Societe Generale Asset Management and Andersen Corporate Finance. Gregory has a 20-year background of Private Equity deals in Europe and in the USA.

Gregory is a Selection Committee member of the International Climate Finance Accelerator in Luxembourg since inception. Gregory has also been for 2 years a Sector Leader for the Environment at the French Embassy in Thailand.

Jimmy Skenderovic

Adviser for Sustainable Finance and Development at the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable development of Luxembourg

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.

Stephan Peters

Managing Director at ICFA

Stephan is the Managing Director of the International Climate Finance Accelerator Luxembourg (ICFA) where he leverages his extensive track record to assist aspiring climate-focused fund managers in structuring their vehicles, formulating investment strategies, guiding operational implementation, securing financing, and building high-performance teams.

Previously, Stephan ran his own sustainable advisory and investment boutique SANZARU, while also part of the TIIME.org team, advocating and educating decision makers to boost awareness of impact investing, sustainability and diversity. Prior, Stephan accumulated experience in private equity, corporate finance and strategy consulting across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia with blue-chip names like Oliver Wyman, Credit Suisse, and Delta Partners.

Stephan earned an MBA at the prestigious business school INSEAD with locations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. He earned and a MSc in Aerospace Engineering (cum laude) from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Stephan is also a CFA Charterholder from the CFA Institute.

Angela Falconer

Independant Climate Finance Consultant

Dr. Angela Falconer is an independent climate finance consultant focussed on agriculture and forest finance. She is the former UK/EU Director of Climate Policy Initiative where she worked for 11 years. Her role included advising the Governments of Indonesia, Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire on climate finance issues including design of climate finance mechanisms, fiscal policy and monitoring of climate-aligned expenditures. Angela worked for several years on CPI’s Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance, establishing a Sustainable Agriculture for Smallholders focus within the Lab through a partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development and led CPI’s support to develop the Climate Smart Lending Platform and the Cloud Forest Blue Energy Mechanism Lab instruments. More recently she oversaw the evolution of CPI’s climate finance tracking work towards assessing Paris Alignment of financial actors and tracking of financial actor climate commitments ahead of COP26.
Angela holds a PhD in the Science and Management of Climate Change from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, where her thesis focused on REDD+ finance, an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford, and an MA in Geography from the University of Glasgow.

Barbara Boos

Independant Advisor

Barbara is a seasoned investment practitioner in the climate and infrastructure space. Prior to becoming an independent advisor, she held various positions at the EIB Group for more than 20 years and was heading the Climate and Infrastructure Fund investment activities from 2018 to 2023. Barbara has extensive experience of renewable energy, energy efficiency, environment and resources, sustainable transport, digital and social infrastructure fund investments and a solid ESG and risk background. During her career, Barbara held various executive and non-executive board positions. Barbara is a member of the UNPRI Infrastructure Advisory Committee.