UNIDO Summit: Money is available – but too little is flowing into the decarbonisation of industry

Frankfurt/Riyadh, 26 November 2025 – How can we mobilise capital for the sustainable development of industry in emerging economies? This is one of the questions being discussed by the General Assembly of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Riyadh this week. There is less of a shortage of money than of the right vehicles to channel it through effectively. “Only around two per cent of global climate finance is flowing into the decarbonisation of industry – particularly in emerging and developing countries, far too little is reaching its destination,” says Sylvia Wisniwski, co-founder and CEO of Finance in Motion.

 

Only a fraction of the more than 120 trillion US dollars managed by institutional investors worldwide supports sustainable initiatives in emerging markets. “Many investors perceive these markets primarily as risky,” says Wisniwski, who is exchanging ideas with government and industry representatives at the UNIDO Industry Summit. One key to closing the gap is blended finance – the combination of public and private capital to reduce risk.  

 

Together with UNIDO, Finance in Motion is developing the Transformation Pathways Fund, a blended finance fund. The money invested will be used specifically for the decarbonisation of industrial value chains worldwide, for example in agriculture or food production.

 

“Blended finance is a proven instrument that we at Finance in Motion have been working with successfully for almost two decades,” says Wisniwski. “We are very pleased to now be creating another vehicle with UNIDO that can mobilise capital and contribute to the decarbonisation of industry.”