ASCOR Explainer Series: Pillar 3 Climate Finance

Assessing Sovereign Climate-related Opportunities and Risks ( ASCOR ) is an investor-led framework used to evaluate how countries are managing the low-carbon transition and climate change impacts. It measures sovereign performance across three pillars: Emissions Pathways, Climate Policies, and Climate Finance. The videos and accompanying slides below cover Pillar 3: Climate Finance, which evaluates how well countries manage the transition to a low-carbon economy by assessing how nations fund climate initiatives, track climate expenditures, and secure investment opportunities. Designed to guide sovereign bond investors, Pillar 3 specifically measures a nation's performance across four core areas:

1. CF1. International Climate Finance: Evaluates a country's contributions and commitments to funding climate adaptation and mitigation efforts in other (often developing) nations.
2. CF2. Transparency of Climate Costing: Measures whether a government provides clear, measurable data on the economic costs required to meet its climate targets.
3. CF3. Transparency of Climate Spending: Tracks the disclosure of climate-related action spending and the implementation of climate budget tagging to show exactly how much governments invest domestically.
4. CF4. Renewable Energy Opportunities: Assesses a sovereign's attractiveness for private green investment by looking at enabling environments and opportunities to develop renewable energy.

While Pillars 1 and 2 of ASCOR measure a government's actual emission trends and climate policies, Pillar 3 highlights the financial flows, transparency, and economic realities needed to turn those climate policies into action.

CF1. International Climate Finance

ASCOR: Pillar 3 Climate Finance (CF1. International Climate Finance)

CF1. Accompanying slides

CF2. Transparency in Climate Costing

ASCOR: Pillar 3 Climate Finance (CF2. Transparency in Climate Costing)

CF2. Accompanying slides

CF3. Transparency in Climate Spending

ASCOR: Pillar 3 Climate Finance (CF3. Transparency in Climate Spending)

CF3. Accompanying slides

CF4. Renewable Energy Opportunities

ASCOR: Pillar 3 Climate Finance (CF4. Renewable Energy Opportunities)

CF4. Accompanying slides