What Is a Country Platform?

Country platforms are country-owned mechanisms that translate national priorities into investment pipelines, driving sectoral transformation. While their design and implementation vary, all share a common goal: supporting scaled, programmatic responses to critical development challenges by bringing together ministries across government, establishing clear governance structures, and creating a strategic framework for mobilizing investment.

Resources

This pillar provides the foundational knowledge needed before committing to a country platform. The resources in this pillar will help answer some initial critical questions:

What is a country platform, and what problem is it designed to solve?
What are the core principles and success factors of an effective country platform?
What are the common early-stage challenges in designing a country platform?
What questions should be asked before getting started with country platform development?

As the Knowledge Portal progresses to its full launch at COP31, available resources are expected to grow.

Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ)

Lessons Learned from GFANZ’s Support to Country Platforms

This document sets out the key lessons GFANZ has learned from its support to country platforms, drawing on its role as private financing partner to major emerging market platforms. It presents seven lessons — spanning platform design, governance, targets, project bankability, investment scaling, financing-partner engagement, and communications — each paired with practical recommendations to help countries and partners build more effective platforms that mobilize capital at scale.

Case Studies & Project Briefs

GCF

Platforms for Climate Finance

This brief outlines the type of support the Green Climate Fund (GCF) provides for the establishment and operationalization of country platforms. It details available financial instruments, including readiness grants for platform secretariats, project preparation facilities, and catalytic concessional financing to mobilize investments.

Briefs & Explainers

ODI

One size won't fit all: Designing country platforms for different political contexts

This working paper applies a political framework to help guide the design of country platforms across diverse national contexts. It examines existing Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) to illustrate how the concentration of power and breadth of social foundations impact a government's ability to deliver a just transition.

Framing Reports

New Development Bank+1

Brief on Country Platforms for Climate Action

This joint statement outlines the common understanding and commitment of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to support country platforms for climate action. It details core principles for MDB engagement, focusing on country ownership, investment identification, finance mobilization, and transparency.

Briefs & Explainers

ODI

Country Platforms for Climate Action: Something borrowed, something new?

This paper explores the concept of country platforms by offering a taxonomy to compare different models based on their goals and financing types. It draws on decades of development cooperation to provide practical lessons on securing political agreements, organizing public finance, and mobilizing private investment for climate action.

Framing Reports

Center for Global Development

Platforms that Perform: Navigating Country Platform Implementation

This policy paper explores the complex implementation choices that determine the effectiveness of country platforms. It identifies binding constraints that platforms face and offers practical recommendations for delivering genuine country ownership, proper sequencing, and strategic capital structuring.

Framing Reports

Rockefeller Foundation

Scaling the JETP Model - Prospects and Pathways for Action

This report evaluates the successes and barriers of early Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) and proposes four actionable pathways to scale the model globally. It advocates for evolving from high-level political deals to establishing nationally owned institutional platforms that match key projects with international backers.

Framing Reports

IIED

Country Platforms Action Toolkit

This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance for designing country platforms for climate and development finance. It features practical modules and worksheets covering readiness diagnostics, governance architecture, financial planning, and project pipeline development.

Tools and Frameworks

Climate & Development Ministerial

The Realities of Country Platforms for LDCs and SIDS: Ten Key Lessons

This briefing paper presents ten key lessons for building effective, inclusive, and durable country platforms in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It emphasizes a need to move away from donor-driven, mitigation-heavy models to focus on locally-led adaptation and streamlined finance.

Briefs & Explainers