The carbon market doubled to $126bn, but the value of transactions financing project-based emission reductions fell 12% to $6.5bn in 2008. Difficulties in getting financing for projects during the financial crisis, regulatory delays and the market's uncertain future caused the drop. World Bank is working to deepen the reach of the carbon market with two new facilities.

To achieve efficacy in scale up efforts, different approaches are likely to be appropriate for different countries and interventions.

There is common understanding that energy efficiency is a crucial piece of the puzzle to control climate disruption within the required timeframe, as well as to combine vital environmental and economic returns while increasing energy security. Yet investments towards energy efficiency appear to be lagging behind the actual development of financially viable technologies.

Carbon or greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets have long been promoted as an important element of a comprehensive climate policy approach. Offset programs can reduce the overall cost of achieving a given emission goal by enabling emission reductions to occur where costs are lower.