Finance articles from across Nature Portfolio

Debt-for-food swaps have been presented as instruments that can simultaneously mobilize additional resources for food security and alleviate debt distress in countries with heavy debt burdens. A recently announced large-scale swap deal between Kenya and the US International Development Finance Corporation provides an opportunity to assess the future potential of such instruments and to identify key considerations for maximizing their effectiveness.

Financial support and research must concentrate on levelling the playing field to ensure emerging and developing economies will benefit from electrification, argues Florian Egli.

There is a substantial disconnect between theoretical recommendations for how much a nation should invest in science, innovation, and technology, and the practical challenges of implementing those investments. In this note, we identify four key challenges that must be addressed to foster an environment conducive to collaboration across organizations and governments, while ensuring commercial rewards for both investors and innovators.

Although the export of green hydrogen from Africa could support decarbonization in Europe, results from a geospatial model suggest that high investment risks make such exports economically unviable in most areas. Guaranteed offtake agreements from Europe can reduce investment risks to achieve cost competitiveness in some locations.

Utilities are increasingly using ratepayer-backed bonds (RBBs) to provide financial protection against extreme weather and more broadly, the energy transition. Consequently, we outline best practices for public utility commissions and ratepayer advocates to reduce financing costs and protect ratepayers in the execution of RBBs.