Evaluating Blended Finance in the EU (EvalEU 2)

THE PROJECT

This project aims at studying how blended finance instruments, used by public development banks in the EU in order to green the economy, are evaluated. Building on a previous CIVICA project , it is funded for a period of 2 years (September 2023 - August 2025) by Sciences Po as part of the projects selected by the Scientific Advisory Board.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Blended finance consists in the strategic pooling of public resources (financial tools, subsidies, technical assistance) with private resources (e.g. loans from commercial banks or equity from venture capitalists) to fund projects or schemes supporting sustainable development goals. The EU institutions and member states have been particularly receptive to the promises of blended finance, a “market-based but state-led” form of public investment, to fund substantial ecological transition. These transformations are part of a wider process of financialisation of the EU public policies. The trend towards blended finance raises pivotal questions of policy legitimacy, effectiveness and accountability. How to properly measure and showcase its impact?

This project focuses on a core group for the justification and implementation of blended finance: evaluators. These professionals are responsible for the identification of its impact, in international organisations, consultancies, donor organisations such as states and philanthropic foundations. Using a mixed-methods research design, the project will map the networks of evaluation ideas and actors over time and track the concrete influence of evaluation results and processes on the EU path towards the Green Transition.

TEAM

Matthias Thiemann, Professor, Sciences Po, CEE