By Pilar Pedrinelli, REP Fund Manager
As the world convenes in Belém for COP30, the Refugee Environmental Protection (REP) Fund will spotlight how climate and nature finance can extend to displacement settings – where environmental degradation, energy insecurity, and humanitarian challenges intersect.
The REP Fund will have an active presence throughout COP30, participating in key side events and dialogues both within the Blue Zone and across the city of Belém. Through these sessions, we will explore how high-integrity finance can deliver measurable benefits for people and ecosystems, while driving investment to some of the world’s most underfinanced regions.
While global efforts to mobilize climate finance have intensified, only a small share reaches fragile and displacement-affected areas. The REP Fund seeks to help close that gap by linking reforestation and clean-cooking programmes in refugee-hosting areas to innovative sources of financing – creating a new model for long-term, locally led investment in people and nature.
Throughout COP30, the REP Fund will convene partners and participate in a series of events exploring how high-integrity finance can deliver impact where it is needed most. Please see below for an overview of our programming, we hope you can join us.
- 13 November, 9:00–10:00 – SDG Pavilion (Blue Zone)
Scaling climate and nature finance in refugee-hosting areas
This high-level event will officially launch the first pilot projects of the Refugee Environmental Protection (REP) Fund. With implementation underway in Uganda and Rwanda, the session will spotlight how these investments deliver measurable co-benefits, including reduced pollution, improved nutrition, and ecosystem resilience. Panellists will discuss implementation pathways, displacement inclusion under Article 6.4, and the case for directing nature-based climate finance to fragile, underserved contexts.
Speakers: UNHCR, Governments of Uganda and Rwanda, Standard Chartered Bank, DLA Piper, Oliver Wyman.
Link: COP30 | United Nations
- 14 November, 12:30–13:30 – EY House, Praça Kennedy, S/N – Campina, Belém – PA, 66010-040
Unlocking private capital for fragile contexts: high-integrity pathways for climate investment
How can private capital accelerate climate and nature action in the world’s most under-financed contexts? Co-hosted by the REP Fund and EY, this session explores the role of innovative finance, disclosure standards, and enabling legal frameworks in directing investment to refugee-hosting and fragile regions. The discussion will examine how high-integrity finance models can blend climate impact with social returns and resilient business strategies.
Speakers: UNHCR, EY, Banco Montepio, EDP, Federated Hermes Limited
Link: Financing climate action in fragile contexts
- 17 November, 13:30–15:00 – ICC Pavilion (Blue Zone)
Bridging the finance divide: investing where markets don’t reach
Even as global commitments to nature and biodiversity multiply, less than five percent of climate finance reaches fragile or high-risk contexts. This high-level dialogue, co-hosted by the REP Fund and ICC, will explore the institutional and financial innovations needed to bridge this gap. Speakers will examine blended finance models, public–private partnerships, and regulatory frameworks that can scale biodiversity and ecosystem investment in regions most exposed to climate and humanitarian stress.
Speakers: UNHCR, ICC, Salesforce, CGIAR, African Development Bank, Adaptation Fund
Link: COP30 ICC and IETA Business Pavilion | IETA
- 18 November, 9:00–10:00 – Food & Agriculture Pavilion (Blue Zone)
Financing nature and resilience in fragile contexts: from hunger relief to long-term climate solutions
This session will spotlight how climate and nature finance can deliver tangible resilience gains in fragile contexts – from refugee-hosting areas to drought-affected rural communities. Anchored by the REP Fund’s work in Brazil and ECCON’s efforts in Roraima, together with the BRCiS experience in Somalia, the dialogue will examine how ecosystem restoration, clean cooking, and landscape-level programmes can reinforce both food security and carbon-based financing pathways. It will highlight lessons for scaling high-integrity, locally led solutions across humanitarian and development settings.
Speakers: UNHCR, ECCON, BRCiS, FCDO, CGIAR.
Link: Financing nature and resilience in fragile contexts: from hunger relief to long-term climate solutions