Multilateral Climate Finance and Research Networks

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition, TEEB and the Global Climate Change Alliance, a different set of climate coalitions and finance bodies, are covered in India's Climate Finance and Global Cooperation. GACSA, the FAO-co-convened climate-smart agriculture alliance, is covered in Agenda 21, TRAFFIC, UNCCD and the Polar Code. This note covers a different set of bodies: a regional development bank's own nature-finance vehicle, a World Economic Forum platform, and the CGIAR research system.

The Nature Solutions Finance Hub: the Asian Development Bank's own vehicle, not the World Bank's

The Nature Solutions Finance Hub for Asia and the Pacific (NSFH) was launched at COP28 (December 2023) by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), not the World Bank, UNEP, or the AIIB, each of which runs its own separate climate-finance instruments. The Hub's purpose is to mobilise investment, an initial target of roughly $2 billion, rising to at least $5 billion by 2030, into nature-based solutions: forest and wetland restoration and similar projects that deliver climate mitigation and adaptation benefits alongside biodiversity gains. It works by de-risking these projects for private capital, using guarantees, blended finance and impact-linked payments rather than funding projects directly end to end. The exam trap is straightforward attribution: several multilateral development banks and UN bodies run broadly similar-sounding nature or climate funds, and the NSFH is specifically ADB's.

The 100 Million Farmers platform: a World Economic Forum initiative, not a UN or government programme

The 100 Million Farmers platform is a multi-stakeholder initiative anchored by the World Economic Forum (WEF), bringing together corporates, financial institutions and international organisations, not a United Nations body or a single government's scheme. Its aim is to accelerate the transition of smallholder and other farmers worldwide toward sustainable, resource-efficient and climate-resilient agricultural practices, using a "capital stack" model that blends different types of finance (concessional, commercial, philanthropic) to fund that transition at scale. It is worth holding apart from GACSA (the Global Alliance for Climate-Smart Agriculture, FAO-co-convened, covered separately), since both operate in the same climate-smart-agriculture space but are owned by entirely different institutions with different membership models: GACSA is an intergovernmental-style alliance, 100 Million Farmers is a corporate-and-finance-sector platform.

CGIAR, CCAFS and ICRISAT: which one contains which

CGIAR (the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) is the umbrella research system, made up of 15 research centres worldwide, with its System Organization headquartered in Montpellier, France. CCAFS (Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security) was a cross-cutting research programme carried out under CGIAR, not a separate parent body, and not the other way round; getting this containment direction backwards is the exact trap this cluster sets. ICRISAT (the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), headquartered in Hyderabad (Patancheru), India, is one of CGIAR's 15 constituent centres. India's own Climate-Smart Village approach, piloting climate-resilient farming practices at the village level, was a project led under CCAFS, tying India's domestic programme directly into this international research architecture rather than running as a purely domestic initiative.

Quick revision points

• Nature Solutions Finance Hub (NSFH): launched at COP28 (2023) by the Asian Development Bank (not the World Bank or AIIB); targets $2 billion, rising to $5 billion by 2030, for nature-based climate solutions via de-risking instruments.
• 100 Million Farmers: a World Economic Forum-anchored platform (not a UN body) transitioning smallholder farmers to climate-resilient practices via blended finance. Distinct from GACSA (FAO-co-convened, intergovernmental-style).
• CGIAR (15 centres, HQ Montpellier, France) is the parent system; CCAFS is a research programme under CGIAR, not the reverse; ICRISAT (Hyderabad) is one of CGIAR's 15 centres. India's Climate-Smart Village approach was a CCAFS-led project.