New climate financing moves
The Philippines secured a ₱60.55‑billion World Bank loan to fund climate‑smart agriculture, aiming to boost food security while cutting emissions in a climate‑vulnerable sector (mb.com.ph). Canada separately announced nearly C$16.9 million to back five new carbon capture, utilization and storage projects to scale carbon‑management in heavy industry (carbonherald.com).
The World Bank’s Board approved the Philippines Sustainable Agricultural Transformation (PSAT) financing on March 27, 2026, committing US$1.0 billion to the program and structuring the deal as a Program‑for‑Results operation. (World Bank press release, Mar 28, 2026) PSAT is expected to reach at least five million farmers and will be implemented through the Philippine Department of Agriculture. (World Bank press release, Mar 28, 2026) The program explicitly prioritizes rice‑based farming with measures including improved seed and nutrient management, water‑saving and greenhouse‑gas‑reducing techniques, post‑harvest loss reduction, a new digital voucher system for inputs, and mechanization via farmer cooperatives. (World Bank press release, Mar 28, 2026) Ottawa announced C$28.9 million in March 2026 for 12 clean‑energy projects, including C$16.9 million allocated to five CCUS research, development and demonstration projects under Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program. (Natural Resources Canada news release, Mar 27, 2026) The five CCUS awards were: Carbon Alpha Corp. (a Svante company) — C$10,000,000 for seismic survey design in Meadow Lake, SK; Petroleum Technology Research Centre — C$4,915,000 for CO2 plume monitoring and a new test well in Regina, SK; CarbiCrete Inc. — C$700,000 in Lachine, QC; York University — C$695,000 in Toronto, ON; and CO2L Technologies Inc. — C$580,000 in Kingston, ON. (Natural Resources Canada backgrounder, Mar 27, 2026) Project scopes include seismic‑based mapping and measurement‑monitoring‑verification for permanent storage (Carbon Alpha), drilling and sampling to track subsurface CO2 behavior (PTRC), development of a flue‑gas concrete curing process to enable cement‑free products (CarbiCrete), low‑energy electrochemical/photonic capture methods (York University), and scaling electrochemical conversion of CO2 into formate and formic acid at tonne scale (CO2L). (Natural Resources Canada backgrounder, Mar 27, 2026)
