Accelerating Resilient Investment in Sustainable Economies (ARISE)

The goal of the ARISE initiative is to develop new strategic public-private partnerships to mobilize unprecedented capital investment over the next decade to address major international, regional and local efforts to stabilize the effects of climate change; build social, economic and ecosystem resilience; eradicate energy poverty; and enhance energy, water and food security in all nations.

The specific objective is the creation of a Global Portfolio Preparation Facility that will coordinate the matching of new, resilient infrastructure projects with appropriate sources of financing from global entities that include sovereign wealth funds, international lending banks, foundations and private capital. This is the first entity of its kind, and is being created in response to agreement on the need for such a facility among a variety of international funders attending a gathering in early 2012 at the Rockefeller Foundation retreat in the town of Bellagio on Lake Como in Italy. Because global financial institutions tend to work separately and follow their own protocols, many small and medium sized initiatives often have trouble finding the appropriate financing packages (loans, investment capital, grants, etc.). This facility will serve to coordinate that process.

ARISE is being developed by a consortium of global organizations that includes the Earth Council Alliance; the Energy, Resources and Environment Program at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; the U.S. and World Green Building Council; ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability); C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group; Pro Natura International; Eye on Earth (Environment Agency of Abu Dabhi) and The World Bank Group.

The Rockefeller Foundation provided an initial grant to debut the initiative at the Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi in December 2011 and at the Rio+20 conference in June 2012. Following expressions of support for the initiative, Blackstone Ranch Institute has provided a second stage grant that will allow the project’s leaders to begin the dialogs with sovereign wealth funds and leading global financing entities necessary to the establishment of the Global Portfolio Preparation Facility. Future funding for the initiative will be built upon the early stage grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and Blackstone Ranch Institute.