About us
Our focus
Focus areas
In 2026, the EMDE Investor Taskforce operates through five complementary workstreams, each addressing critical aspects for unlocking capital from institutional investors towards EMDEs.
ASSET OWNER MOBILISATION
Leads: Church of England Pensions Board, The People’s Partnership
UK pension funds operate within diverse capacity constraints and risk appetites, whilst the Pension Schemes Bill 2025 creates a new regulatory and policy environment for investment in emerging and developing economies.
This workstream deepens understanding of differentiated asset owner requirements for EMDE investment, and deepens understanding of the opportunities that UK asset owners have to contribute to financing climate transitions in EMDEs. This includes engagement with the outcomes of the 2025 ‘Baku to Belem’ process, and monitoring of opportunities created for UK insurers by the Solvency UK Matching Adjustment Investment Accelerator.
With ongoing regulatory changes, especially for the UK DC market, this workstream builds the knowledge and appetite needed to channel UK institutional capital towards sustainable development.
Products and tools
Leads: Mercer
Institutional investors lack tailored resources that address their specific requirements and constraints when considering EMDE allocations, and also seek clarity on the product landscape for EMDEs.
This workstream develops and launches an interactive toolkit that provides asset owners with practical guidance on emerging market investment – equipping pension funds and other institutions with the knowledge and frameworks needed to confidently deploy capital in developing economies. It also seeks to convene a product showcase for asset owners, spotlighting opportunities across asset classes and jurisdictions.
Data compilation and usage
Leads: Private Infrastructure Development Group, Nest
Asset owners require granular, investor-relevant data on EMDE investment performance to inform strategic allocation decisions, yet such data remains fragmented and inaccessible. Building on 2025 findings, this workstream will work towards cross-initiative efforts to establish a platform to collect and share private sector credit performance data. It will also seek enhanced disclosure from multilateral development banks and development finance institutions through partnerships with the GEMs platform and Hamburg Data Alliance, and drive awareness of these datasets among pension funds, asset managers and investment consultants.
The workstream aims to demonstrate that robust data can unlock institutional capital for climate-compatible investments in emerging markets.
Credit ratings
Leads: Mike Wilkins (CETEx)
EMDE Investor Taskforce work in 2025 identified a variety of views on the role of credit ratings within the EMDE investment chain amongst asset owners and managers. With a focus on guarantees and blended finance, the workstream will engage investors and credit rating agencies to undertake analytical education on the methodologies for rating different types of EMDE transactions and products. A significant focus is placed on the role that historic performance data can play in updating understandings of risk, and the role of recovery assumptions.
The underpinning logic of this workstream is the belief that improved understandings of risk can benefit real-life EMDE transactions.
Regulation and policy
Leads: Institute of International Finance
Prudential regulations for banks and insurers can present a barrier to institutional investment in emerging markets and developing economies.
This workstream builds on EMDE Investor Taskforce work in 2025 to assess the regulatory barriers faced by pension funds, insurers and banks undertaking EMDE investment, and focuses specifically on the experience of prudential treatment of multilateral development bank products and the experience of insurance regulatory barriers globally.
1. Research and Opportunity
This workstream develops a research base that will inform and complement the wider work of the Taskforce.
The research centres on two key areas. First, it will undertake scoping work to examine the case for further research on the risk that a failed or delayed climate transition in EMDEs poses to the global financial system and to asset owners (including in the UK), while identifying the opportunities for financing a successful transition. Second, it assesses the potential scope for increased UK asset owner allocations towards climate and development-focused investments across EMDEs.
2. Capacity Building and Data
This workstream focuses on equipping UK asset owners with the tools, knowledge, and resources needed to invest effectively across EMDEs.
It develops practical guidance for asset owners looking to adjust internal operations, policies and processes to facilitate increased allocations to EMDEs (within the confines of their investment objectives and fiduciary duty). The workstream also identifies ways to improve the availability, quality and accessibility of both the financial and non-financial data essential for informed decision-making by asset owners investing across EMDEs.
3. Products
This workstream develops actionable resources to scale EMDE-focused investment products across public and private markets.
It showcases innovative deal structures (including blended finance and funded/unfunded ABS etc.), coordinates asset owner input on originate-to-distribute models for DFI/MDB assets and produces thought leadership. The workstream identifies and tackles real barriers asset managers face – such as risk perceptions, project execution challenges, and return expectations – offering practical solutions to mobilise capital for climate and sustainable development goals in EMDEs, with or without concessional and junior capital. The workstream will work with existing initiatives such as the World Bank Private Sector Investment Lab, the EBRD mobilisation taskforce and others.
4. Regulatory Environment
This workstream examines existing policy, regulations and standards to explore how they affect incentives for firms to invest in EMDEs.
It will establish an evidence base for how regulations and standards impact investment decisions in EMDEs and identify any proportionate regulatory amendments that could better incentivise EMDE investment while maintaining appropriate risk management standards. Where relevant, this work will develop recommendations for UK and international policymakers, regulators, standard setters and institutional investors.