Through partnering with the Green Climate Fund, AFC will have access to valuable resources to support investments across a variety of green projects
The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has been accredited as a partnering institution to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), making it the fund’s first African development finance institution.
AFC was invited by the GCF to consider becoming an accredited institution, and following submission of its application in early 2015, AFC has this month attained full accreditation.
Accreditation by the GCF enables AFC to access GCF’s committed capital of US$9.3 billion; a pool of funds for climate change projects to be utilised by members for on-lending, grants, lines of credit, guarantees and other fiduciary functions.
AFC intends to use the fund’s capital to further its investment in renewable energy, a priority sector for the corporation. AFC is the lead investor in the award winning Cabeolica project, a US$90 million, 26MW landmark renewable energy wind power project in Cape Verde and the first commercial scale public private partnership wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa providing over 20% of Cape Verde’ power needs.
The GCF, with headquarters in Songdo Republic of Korea, is a fund operating within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). GCF’s objective is to promote the paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change, taking into account the needs of those developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.
Over time, the GCF is expected to become the main multilateral financing mechanism to support climate action in developing countries. With a total of 20 accredited entities, the fund is governed by a Board of 24 members and is initially supported by an Interim Secretariat.
Andrew Alli, President & Chief Executive Officer, AFC commented on the announcement: “This is very positive news as it reinforces AFC’s status as a multilateral financial institution. Through partnering with the Green Climate Fund, AFC will have access to valuable resources to support investments across a variety of green projects, making a significant contribution to the global efforts to combat climate change.”
