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Sanlam-backed CFM’s Climate Investor Two Fund closes at $1bn

Climate Fund Managers (CFM), a climate-focused blended finance investment manager, has announced the $1bn close of its Climate Investor Two (CI2) fund, making it the largest global climate adaptation infrastructure fund focused on emerging markets. The fund blends public and private capital to invest in and co-develop water, waste, and oceans infrastructure in emerging markets, including low-income countries, across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Image credit:  on Pexels
Image credit: Vladimir Srajber on Pexels

CFM is a joint venture between Sanlam Infraworks and the Dutch development finance institution, FMO.

Accelerating capital mobilisation

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates the adaptation finance gap in developing countries at $194–366bn per year, yet current funding levels remain far below what is needed.

Formed in 2019 in partnership with the European Commission and the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD), CI2 directly contributes to closing this gap, demonstrating how blended finance can accelerate capital mobilisation into one of the most underfunded areas of climate action.

CI2 delivers social and environmental impact at scale, directing funding to hard-to-reach markets in sectors such as water services, sanitation, and waste management.

By the end of its life, the fund aims to provide safe drinking water and improved sanitation to 16.5 million beneficiaries and to protect or restore 2.2 million hectares of ecosystems.

CI2’s success reflects strong investor confidence in adaptation and CFM’s blended finance model, which combines private and public capital to balance risk and mobilise private sector investment at scale.

CI2 is supported by a diverse investor base, including development finance institutions, multilateral finance institutions, public sector banks, and institutional investors.

Since its first close in 2021, CI2 has committed $339m to 25 climate adaptation and mitigation projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

These include water supply and distribution projects in Vietnam and the Philippines, water desalination projects in Thailand and Kenya, waste-to-energy platforms in Sierra Leone, South Africa and Thailand; and the world’s largest debt-for-nature swap in Ecuador to secure long-term funding for the Hermandad Marine Reserve and the Galápagos Islands.

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