The Mitigation Action Facility’s portfolio is generating a growing set of co-benefits alongside greenhouse gas emissions reductions, including economic, social, environmental, and political co-benefits. A new paper shows how these wider impacts have steadily evolved since 2018, accelerating transformational change in various countries.
A steady rise in co-benefits
The paper shows a clear upward trajectory: co-benefits have risen consistently year-on-year, reflecting more projects reaching maturity and better reporting. By the end of 2025, projects had generated 59 social co-benefits (up markedly since 2023), 52 economic ones, 32 environmental, and nine political-institutional, a category added in 2022 to capture institutional strengthening. Latin America and the Caribbean lead with 56% of outcomes, followed by Asia (35%) and Africa (9%), driven by the region’s larger share of advanced projects.
Sector shifts over time
Environmental gains, often from circular economy approaches, were strongest in cross-sectoral projects (47% in 2025). Economic co-benefits concentrated in industry (48% in 2025), with productivity and cost savings growing steadily since 2024. Social co-benefits expanded by 48% between 2023-2025, led by energy projects improving health and access, while political-institutional examples, like regulatory reform and inter-ministerial coordination, are now emerging.
What the projects are achieving
The paper highlights how mitigation action can create tangible benefits in practice. In India, waste projects are diverting more than 1.35 million tonnes of waste from landfill, reducing pollution and supporting a more circular economy while also improving job quality and stakeholder coordination. The Guatemala – Cookstoves project is reducing indoor air pollution for nearly 4,000 households and helping ease the pressure on forests by lowering firewood demand.
Economic co-benefits are also being recorded in sectors such as industry, where projects are lowering electricity use, increasing profitability and attracting investment. The Mexico – SME Energy Efficiency project reduced electricity bills by up to 80 percent in some cases, while also strengthening market participation and private finance mobilisation. Social co-benefits include improved living conditions, skills development, and greater inclusion, such as a pilot in Mongolia that supported low-income households to participate in building retrofit programmes.
Building enabling conditions
Beyond direct project results, the paper shows that co-benefits can help create the conditions needed for long-term decarbonisation. Regulatory reform, institutional coordination and regional knowledge exchange are emerging as important political-institutional outcomes in countries such as Cabo Verde, Mexico and India. These changes help strengthen ownership, broaden support, and improve the likelihood that mitigation actions will scale and last.
Looking ahead
The paper also points to future opportunities in projects now entering implementation. New initiatives in Kenya and the Rwanda are expected to generate strong economic co-benefits through innovative finance mechanisms that improve access to capital and make clean technologies more affordable for smaller businesses and low-income households. Taken together, the portfolio evidence suggests that well-designed mitigation action can deliver benefits far beyond emissions reductions, supporting healthier, more inclusive and more resilient development pathways.
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