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The global climate conversation has spent years defining targets. The next challenge is more difficult: turning those ambitions into projects that investors, banks and companies can actually finance.

That shift was increasingly visible during Climate Week NYC 2026, where financial institutions joined governments, businesses and international organizations in examining how capital can move more efficiently toward clean energy, infrastructure, electrification and other parts of the low-carbon economy.

Among the institutions participating were BBVA and Garanti BBVA, whose executives used several events in New York to focus on one of the most persistent obstacles facing climate investment: many projects with strong environmental potential still struggle to become financially viable at scale.

The Climate Finance Challenge Is Moving Beyond Capital

The amount of money theoretically available for climate-related investment is only part of the equation.

Projects must also offer predictable cash flows, manageable risks, appropriate financing structures and enough regulatory certainty for banks and investors to commit capital over long periods.

That distinction is particularly important in emerging markets, where higher borrowing costs, currency volatility, infrastructure constraints and regulatory uncertainty can prevent otherwise promising projects from securing financing.

During Climate Week, Garanti BBVA Executive Vice President Sinem Edige argued that the challenge facing the energy transition is not simply a shortage of capital. It is also the need to create bankable and scalable projects supported by financing structures capable of absorbing and managing risk.

Bankability Is Becoming the Missing Link

The concept of bankability may sound technical, but it increasingly sits at the center of the global energy transition.

A renewable-energy project, resilient infrastructure program or industrial electrification plan can have significant environmental value and still fail to attract financing if investors cannot understand its revenue model, regulatory exposure or long-term risks.

Banks can therefore play a role that extends beyond providing loans.

They can structure maturities, combine different sources of capital, help distribute risk and connect private investment with guarantees or development-finance mechanisms when traditional financing alone is insufficient.

That function is particularly relevant as climate investment moves into sectors requiring significant upfront capital, including power grids, industrial transformation, transport, resilient cities and large-scale clean-energy infrastructure.

Climate Finance Is Becoming Risk Engineering

The evolution of sustainable finance is also changing how banks think about their role.

Instead of simply labeling capital as green or sustainable, financial institutions are increasingly being asked to solve specific barriers that prevent projects from reaching financial close.

Currency exposure provides one example. A clean-energy project may generate revenue in a local currency while international financing is denominated in dollars or euros. Significant fluctuations between those currencies can alter the economics of the project and discourage foreign investment.

Political and regulatory uncertainty can create similar problems. If rules governing electricity prices, carbon markets, permitting or infrastructure access can change unexpectedly, investors may demand higher returns to compensate for that risk.

The result is a larger cost of capital precisely in markets where infrastructure investment may be needed most.

Public and Private Capital Need Each Other

This is why development banks, governments and private financial institutions increasingly appear in the same climate-finance conversations.

Public-sector guarantees and multilateral institutions can sometimes absorb risks that private investors are unwilling to take independently, allowing commercial capital to participate under more viable conditions.

Garanti BBVA pointed during Climate Week to financing and risk-sharing mechanisms developed with institutions including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, MIGA, GGF and EFSE as examples of how international capital can be combined with local market knowledge.

These structures could become increasingly important as governments seek to multiply the impact of limited public funds rather than relying exclusively on state financing.

Emerging Markets Sit at the Center of the Financing Gap

Many of the countries with substantial renewable-energy resources also face some of the highest barriers to affordable capital.

That creates one of the central contradictions of the energy transition.

Markets may possess strong solar, wind or geothermal potential while simultaneously facing financing costs that make projects more expensive than comparable developments in wealthier economies.

Closing that gap requires more than announcing additional investment targets. It requires financial structures capable of reducing uncertainty and making projects competitive enough to attract institutional capital.

Turkey featured prominently in BBVA's Climate Week discussions ahead of COP31 in Antalya, with executives highlighting its renewable resources, industrial capabilities and integration with European value chains as foundations for additional low-carbon investment.

The broader lesson extends beyond one country. Emerging markets will require combinations of domestic banking expertise, international capital, development institutions and regulatory frameworks capable of creating predictable investment conditions.

Policy Determines Whether Capital Can Move

Financial institutions cannot solve the climate-investment gap alone.

Banks can structure financing, but governments influence many of the variables determining whether a project ultimately becomes investable.

Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA's Global Head of Sustainability Intelligence & Advocacy, emphasized during a high-level climate-finance dialogue that predictable national frameworks, clear transition plans, demand-side policies and streamlined permitting can help create the cash flows investors need to commit capital.

The point is increasingly relevant as countries compete for clean-industry investment.

Capital tends to move toward markets where rules are understandable, projects can obtain permits within reasonable timelines and long-term revenue can be modeled with confidence.

Climate policy, in that sense, is becoming part of investment infrastructure.

From Sustainable Finance to Sustainable Business

Another evolution is taking place inside companies themselves.

For many businesses, climate-related investment is moving beyond isolated sustainability projects and into