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TLDR:
- The Commonwealth Secretariat and the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development held a policy simulation lab to stress test the Common Pool Asset Structuring System (COMPASS).
- COMPASS is a tool developed as part of the ‘Their Future, Our Action’ initiative to enable small island developing states (SIDS) to attract sustainable finance.
- The tool aims to simplify and enhance sustainable finance provisions for SIDS facing environmental and economic challenges exacerbated by climate change.
The Commonwealth Secretariat and the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development (CRSD) recently conducted a policy simulation lab to assess the effectiveness of the Common Pool Asset Structuring System (COMPASS). COMPASS is a tool developed as part of the ‘Their Future, Our Action’ initiative, which aims to enable small island developing states (SIDS) to attract sustainable finance. The tool emerged from a collaborative effort between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the CRSD during a two-year initiative.
The Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland, stated that COMPASS can help accelerate SIDS’ access to finance by overcoming challenges related to scale, risk, and complexity. The tool enables members to work together by pooling resources, expertise, and decision-making processes, developing a common language to describe shared challenges, and creating a robust pipeline of funding applications and investable projects.
The recent simulation lab represented the culmination of an engagement process involving over 500 experts, 200 national policymakers, and 5,000 citizens from various Commonwealth countries. High Commissions for Commonwealth SIDS attended the workshop and heard presentations on potential pathways for securing funding for SIDS. The CRSD will distill insights from the collaborative action-research into a final report, which will include the development of COMPASS, the Political Economic Resilience Index (PERI), and the legal validation of a whole-of-systems approach for identifying investable opportunities. The report will offer practical recommendations for the effective use of COMPASS and PERI by SIDS.
The partnership between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the CRSD aims to strengthen the global financial resilience system for SIDS by harnessing existing multilateral and bilateral collaborations and engaging with the impact investment community. The outcomes of the simulation lab will inform funding strategies for SIDS in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa in October.
Overall, the COMPASS tool and the ongoing collaboration between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the CRSD are crucial for addressing the unique financial needs of SIDS. By simplifying and enhancing sustainable finance provisions, these initiatives aim to support SIDS in overcoming their environmental and economic challenges exacerbated by climate change. The outcomes of the simulation lab will contribute to securing funding for SIDS and advancing sustainable solutions for these nations.
