The research involved a literature-based desk study and four country case studies based on field visits by the project team (South Africa, Brazil and Mexico). The desk study focused on four research areas:

1. Key factors underpinning access by local government to finance for their capital expenditure programmes and explaining why some countries have adopted a particular sub-national lending model;

2. Current sources of climate finance broadly defined and to what extent and how do sub-national governments and local FIs have access to them;

3. The involvement of local FIs in financing municipal climate-related capital expenditure; and

4.  The factors - ‘enabling actions’ as well as financing - helping and inducing local FIs to increase their financing of municipal climate-related capital expenditure.