London, 20 August, 2025: The Green Grids Initiative (GGI) today announced the finalisation of the Climate Finance Principles to Unlock Grids Financing, a landmark framework designed to unlock investment in electricity transmission, distribution, and storage infrastructure — the backbone of a net-zero energy future.

The Principles were developed through a broad, inclusive consultation process launched at COP29 in Baku, where they were introduced as a key deliverable of the GGI Finance Working Group. Since then, GGI has worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders across the international finance community, including multilateral development banks, climate funds, institutional investors, and technical experts, to refine and finalise the framework.

The Principles have now received formal endorsement from the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), a leading authority on science-based investment standards for climate-aligned infrastructure.

“These Principles are a timely and vital step toward boosting investment in electricity transmission, distribution, and storage infrastructure — core pillars of a net-zero future,” said Sean Kidney, CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative. “We applaud the inclusive, multi-stakeholder process behind their development and fully support this effort to accelerate capital for green grids. Their focus on system-wide planning and measurable outcomes is key to scaling up climate finance.”

The Climate Finance Principles provide a forward-looking, methodology-neutral framework to assess the climate eligibility of grid investments. They are designed to support a wide range of financial instruments — from project-level investments and green bonds to blended finance structures — and to enable co-financing from both public and private sources.

By establishing a common language for assessing climate alignment, the Principles aim to reduce ambiguity, increase eligibility of grid projects for climate finance, bolster investor confidence, and accelerate the flow of catalytic capital into grid infrastructure — particularly in emerging and developing economies where investment needs are greatest.

UK Climate Minister Kerry McCarthy said: “We are proud to Chair the Green Grids Initiative and support the important work it is driving forwards in bringing clean electricity to grids globally.

“The Principals announced today are a welcome step to unlock new sources of finance for clean electricity grid projects, which will strengthen global energy security, drive economic growth and help tackle the climate crisis.”

The GGI Finance Working Group will now continue its work to secure further endorsements from key financial institutions and to support the application of the Principles in the development of new financial products. These efforts are aimed at accelerating the modernisation and decarbonisation of electricity systems globally, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.