Description:

Please join the International Relations Speaker Series as they host Erin Graham, Associate Professor of Global Affairs; Director, Governance and Policy Major, Master of Global Affairs at the Univeristy of Notre Dame.

Abstract:  In the last decade, the question of whether public, multilateral funding can be usefully leveraged to mobilize private capital for development and decarbonization has been subject to heated debate. Much of this centers on de-risking policies promoted by the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs), which advocate that public funding be channeled to reduce the perceived risks of institutional investors, like pensions and mutual funds, drawing trillions in private capital off the sidelines. Missing in this debate is an empirical foundation for understanding the extent to which advocated de-risking ideas have been adopted by the diverse set of international organizations (IOs) that deliver multilateral climate finance, or analysis of how de-risking alters the climate work of IOs. Through an analysis of 567 replenishment documents of five IOs delivering climate finance, we find de-risking ideas have been widely adopted including by UNDP and the GEF and GCF. An analysis of 68 GEF and GCF de-risking projects sheds light on how the agenda is changing their work: climate IOs are increasingly offering economic advice to states and domestic banks; their de-risking projects distances multilateral investments from individual mitigation and adaptation projects; this distance exacerbates accountability issues. 

Erin Graham completed her PhD in the Department of Political Science at the Ohio State University. Prior to joining Notre Dame, she was associate professor of politics at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Other prior appointments include global order visiting scholar at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania, and postdoctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. Graham’s research focuses on the design, financing, and development of international rules and organizations. One strand of her research focuses on how different methods of funding international organizations, like the United Nations and World Bank, affect which states and private actors exert control over the organization’s policies and programs. Her work explores how large donors design and deploy funding rules and practices that allow them to exert unilateral influence at international organizations, undermining ostensibly multilateral governance.

Please use the Registration link for both in-person and virtual attendance.