Leaders in finance and global development have launched a partnership at the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) that aims to help close the massive funding gap for clean cooking while also helping to de-risk investment into the sector.
The new Partnership Platform for Clean Cooking Finance, announced by the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), African Guarantee Fund (AGF), and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), aims to mobilize US$100 million for clean cooking by 2026, seeking to bring together a range of ecosystem players from across carbon and clean cooking markets to de-risk investments and create greater opportunities for investment.
UNCDF has been supporting clean cooking companies through results-based finance grants and concessional loans, but we need to accelerate progress. The Partnership Platform for Clean Cooking Finance allows us to leverage deep clean cooking market expertise, and we are assessing how we can elevate the platform further by drawing in additional donors and UN agencies, said Vincent Wierda, Global Energy Lead, UNCDF.
Nearly a third of the world’s population still relies on polluting open fires and inefficient stoves for cooking, contributing to 3.2 million premature deaths and harming livelihoods, the climate, and the environment.
However, current levels of investment in clean cooking – estimated at around US$130 million each year – fall far short of the US$10 billion needed to reach universal access.
Despite a recent increase in investment in the clean cooking sector, the rate of financing remains far too slow. This new financing platform can help close the financing gap, mobilizing and de-risking new investments at the scale required to rapidly accelerate access to clean cooking, said Jillene Connors Belopolsky, Chief of Staff and Chief External Affairs Officer, CCA.
The platform aims to support investments to grow clean cooking markets and expand access to modern fuels and technologies in Africa.
The Partnership Platform for Clean Cooking Finance supports the ambitions of ACMI and facilitates the much-needed pooling of capabilities of different stakeholders in the financial ecosystem to achieve universal access to cooking in Africa, commented Paul Muthaura, CEO, of Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI).
The platform brings together the capacity building of banks and clean cooking companies, resulting in the expansion of the market for lending to clean cooking companies that helps financial institutions with their ESG priorities and investments towards climate action, said Franck Adjagba, Group Director of Business Development, AGF.
虽然CCA、AGF UNCDF平台的安祖辣椒r partners, a growing pipeline of other key ecosystem actors is expected to join the effort as noted by the range of organizations at the ACS launch event, which included representatives from banks, carbon project developers, impact investors, development finance institutions, clean cooking companies, standards bodies, and many others.
Bringing together a range of players with different focus areas, such as AGF on guarantees, CCA on coordination, technical assistance, and market knowledge, and UNCDF on policy support and concessional capital, is extremely helpful to financiers considering new investments, said Lawrence Cole-Morgan, Executive Lead, Carbon Credit Trading, Standard Bank Group.
Carbon revenues are now integral to Sistema’s business model, and initiatives like this platform attract national and international financiers so companies like ours can access a wider range of capital options, said Alex Eaton, CEO, Sistema.bio.
