The Integrity Gap™ –
Overview Brief
A concise introduction to CFIN's central framework.
The Integrity Gap™ is the space between what looks compliant on paper and what is trustworthy, credible, and effective in practice.
Formal Compliance
Integrity
Gap™
Genuine Integrity
Trust
Builds confidence and confidence.
Credibility
Strengthens legitimacy and accountability.
Climate impact
Drives real, lasting change.
A framework for asking better questions about climate finance in practice.
The Integrity Gap™ – Overview Brief
A short narrative introduction to the framework.
The Integrity Gap™ helps explain why compliance alone does not guarantee credible climate finance.
The Integrity Gap™ points to the space between formal safeguards on paper and how institutions, projects, and actors behave in practice.
Weak integrity can distort decisions, weaken legitimacy, undermine accountability, and compromise climate outcomes — even when procedures appear to have been followed.
Across governance, project design, procurement, intermediary relationships, implementation, reporting, and results.
- What is working in form but not in substance?
- Where are incentives distorting decisions?
- Who benefits, who bears risk, and who is accountable?
- Can the reported results be trusted?
The framework is not only about compliance failure. It is about the credibility and integrity of climate finance in practice.