Africa Go Green Fund announces interim close of $150m
The Africa Go Green Fund, managed by Cygnum Capital Asset Management, has announced its interim close at $150 million.
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The Africa Go Green Fund (AGGF), managed by Cygnum Capital Asset Management, has announced its interim close at $150 million, helped by an investment from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF), for which the African Development Bank is an implementing entity.
The CTF funding, totalling $12 million in equity, will further allow AGGF to broaden its financing for climate-friendly projects in Africa, including purchasing high-efficiency appliances and industrial equipment, retrofitting existing buildings and new green buildings, and installing rooftop solar and battery storage for residential, commercial, and industrial consumers.
Launched by KfW, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, in early 2021, AGGF is the first structured debt fund in Africa focused on energy efficiency solutions. The fund’s target size is between $230 million and $250 million. Other investors include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank, the Nordic Development Fund (NDF), and the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). An additional $10 million in debt from Calvert Impact Capital was closed in December 2022.
Fully operational since 2021, AGGF has provided financing to AktivCo to develop clean energy solutions for powering telecommunication towers in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal; BBOXX, a pay-as-you-go solar-powered solutions provider, to accelerate access to clean cooking solutions for millions of Africans; Solarise, for energy-efficient appliances in Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius; and M-Kopa, an asset financing platform that provides underbanked customers in Africa access to essential products including solar lighting, televisions, fridges, smartphones and financial services.
“Power sector priorities in sub-Saharan Africa have traditionally focused on increasing generation capacity, rather than using the existing capacity more efficiently. This approach tends to create energy intensive economies. Under the African Development Bank’s Climate Change and Green Growth Framework, we are putting more efforts into developing and financing energy efficiency projects, with the support of our climate finance partners such as the CTF. We are cognisant that this intervention in AGGF will support economic growth of African countries whilst helping to curb the increase in energy demand,” said Gareth Phillips, manager of climate and environment finance at the African Development Bank.
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