SCALING UP CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT

THE PROBLEM

Significant additional investment is required to support clean energy technologies in developing countries and thereby constrain climate change and provide a basis for sustainable development. If current financing levels are to be scaled-up, the private sector will have to be a key partner as it is responsible for the allocation of the majority of global financial resources. But there is currently a gap between the investment requirement and the availability of appropriate funds.
Not all private sector financiers are aware of investment opportunities related to clean technologies in developing countries. This is where public sector programmes can play a role to reduce private investors perceived risks such as uncertainties over local markets, governance, infrastructure and available resources. Public sector involvement is often crucial to attracting large-scale private sector finance. Despite acknowledgement of the likely benefits, the gap between potential public and private sector financiers of clean technologies remains very wide.

THE SOLUTION

Governments can show the commercial viability of clean energy and reduce perceived risks by covering some of the start-up costs and/or setting up demonstration projects to show investors that projects are truly “bankable.”
UNEP’s Energy Finance programme activities take many different approaches – often simultaneously – according to the specific needs of the country and the project. For example, sometimes lowering costs for consumers can stimulate a new market and attract financing, and a facility can be set up to help local banks provide low-cost loans to clean tech users.
At other times, countries would like to attract finance to increase the viability of clean technology applications by participating in the global carbon market, but need technical support and guidance on the appropriate carbon finance mechanisms.
Other UNEP interventions offer training for financial institutions in developing countries geared at improving the prospects for clean technology projects, or financial support to suppliers and developers to help get lowcarbon projects up and running.

IMPACTS

Despite the difficult global economic conditions during 2012, many UNEP initiatives have made great positive impacts by scaling-up the level of investment in clean technologies.
For example:

• UNEP’s Climate Finance Innovation Facility provided technical assistance of US$150,000 to the Bank of Taizhou in China to help develop an energy efficiency loan product. The actual investment made by the bank was US$3,269,500.
• UNEP’s Seed Capital Assistance Facility supported an 80MW wind farm in South Africa and a 10MW hydropower project in Tanzania. UNEP funding of US$315,000 for these projects has mobilised private investment of US$1.5m and potential follow-on investment of around US$14m.

SUPPORT

UNEP’s Energy Finance Unit works closely with Frankfurt School – UNEP Collaborating Centre for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance, to offer extensive climate finance skills and services. The initiative is supported by a range of donors including the governments of France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.

WEBSITE

• www.unep.org/energy/activities/financialinnovation.aspx

SUCCESS STORY
Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF)
In many developing countries entrepreneurs can transform markets, but entrepreneurs face a number of challenges doing so in the clean energy sector. A lack of early stage financing, high transaction costs and insufficient risk-adjusted returns are just some of them.
SCAF was designed to help overcome these obstacles, offering cost-sharing support to clean energy fund managers to co-invest seed financing in early stage project developments. An example is the South African Evolution One Fund, Africa’s first specialised “clean tech” investment fund with approximately US$90 million in committed capital. US$1 million of funding from SCAF is being matched by US$5 million from Evolution One Fund to develop and invest seed capital in a growing portfolio of renewable energy projects in Southern Africa.

Source: Re-blogged from http://www.unep.org

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BUILDING COUNTRY CAPACITY TO ACCESS AND MANAGE CLIMATE FUNDS

THE PROBLEM

Developing countries will soon have at their disposal a significant new form of finance to help them respond to the challenges of climate change following the approval of the Governing Instrument for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) at COP17 in Durban in 2011. The GCF’s Governing Instrument states that “The Fund will play a key role in channeling new, additional, adequate and predictable financial resources to developing countries and will catalyze climate finance, both public and private, and at the international and national levels”.
However, experience so far shows that most potential beneficiary countries are not yet ready for an increased influx of climate funding. Institutional capacities need to be developed to oversee funds implementation, and a pipeline of projects needs to be prepared involving both public and private actors. The Governing Instrument makes specific reference to the need to assist developing countries in building their capacities for direct access and to provide special support to Least Developed Countries and Small Island States in building capacity to engage the private sector.

THE SOLUTION

UNEP is setting up a GCF Investment Readiness Programme to help countries prepare to implement the GCF both institutionally and in terms of private sector engagement. Assistance will comprise of helping to build and strengthen the institutional capacity of national governments and designated public finance institutions. The programme will also provide support for the development of climate change adaptation and mitigation programmes and projects of a transformative nature aligned with national climate change strategies. Two important aspects of the GCF, direct access and private sector engagement, will be highlighted by UNEP as they both involve significant readiness support before becoming functionally operational.
By building their capacity to access, implement and monitor scaled-up levels of investment, beneficiary countries will increase their resilience to climate change and be better prepared to make the transition to low carbon economies.

THE IMPACTS

The programme will accelerate adaptation, REDD+ and mitigation actions in target countries by strengthening national frameworks for climate change action, facilitating GCF accreditation of designated national public finances and by supporting the development of mitigation and adaptation programmes of a transformative nature to be supported by international climate finance.
Some of the specific target impacts include: nationallevel systems and processes for direct access; robust accountability and reporting systems; concrete project proposals; and the development of specific new financial products and programmes. By building capacity to access, implement and monitor scaled-up levels of investment, beneficiary countries will increase their resilience to climate change and be better prepared to make the transition to low carbon economies.

SUPPORT

Government of Germany

SUCCESS STORY

In 2011 the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and UNEP set up the Collaborating Centre for Climate & Sustainable Energy Finance. Funded by the German Government, the Centre is designed to support the transformation to resilient low-carbon and resourceefficient economies by mobilizing investment and strengthening associated markets. The Centre works with key actors in finance, government and industry, to help prepare countries for increased investment in sustainable energy and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Centre identifies and multiplies good practice in sustainable energy and climate finance and serves as UNEP’s main knowledge hub for sustainable energy and climate finance. www.fs-unep-centre.org

Source: Re-blogged from http://www.unep.org

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CLEAR WIN FOR CLEAN TECHNOLOGY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

THE PROBLEM

Although small scale renewable energy technologies, such as photovoltaic systems and solar water heaters (SWH), are considered reliable and competitive, they are still not fully established in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region due to the high upfront cost for the end-users, and the lack of financing options tailored for this type of investment.

THE SOLUTION

The Mediterranean Investment Facility (MIF) helps to establish innovative financing mechanisms to allow end-users to invest in renewable energies.
The integrated approach is based on:

1. Financing mechanism design, implementation and monitoring
2. Training and capacity building for government officials, financing institutions as well as for technology suppliers and installers
3. Quality control and checking system to select equipment complying with international standards and to check the operation of the systems

THE IMPACTS

• More than 145,100 households now get their hot water exclusively from the sun in Tunisia, thanks to the country’s solar water heater programme for the residential sector – PROSOL – that has created a sustainable market for solar water heaters, with 50 technology suppliers and more than 3,000 direct jobs.
• Since the launch of the photovoltaic project for the residential sector in Tunisia – PROSOL ELEC – in 2011, more than 740 families have installed photovoltaic systems.
• In the tertiary sector, particularly in the hotel sector, 24 collective solar water heaters were installed in Tunisia and Egypt corresponding to more than two million kilowatt-hours of solar energy produced every year.
• Detailed studies are ongoing in Tunisia to set a sound regulatory framework to integrate solar thermal energy in the industrial sector.
• An innovative financing support mechanism in Morocco enables two million households to phase out incandescent lighting and repay the cost of new energy-efficient lamps through their electricity bill over 21 months.
• In Montenegro, free loans to end-users are provided through local commercial banks over a period of seven years to install solar water heaters.

SUPPORT

Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea

WEBSITE

• www.unep.org/energy/Activities/MediterraneanInvestmentFacilityMIF.aspx

SUCCESS STORY

Within the MIF, PROSOL provides financial support to local households through a combination of value added tax exemptions, customs duty reductions and reduced-rate bank loans. The repayment of the loan is included in the regular electricity bill, which lowers the risk for local banks that are then willing to finance SWH projects with reduced interest rates.
An interest rate subsidy was available during the first phase of PROSOL (2005-2006) that reduced the interest rate of the loan to zero per cent for the final end user. The Tunisian government provides a subsidy of 20 per cent of the system cost. This was initially a temporary measure funded by UNEP to “prime” the market, but was later made permanent by the Tunisian government. Thanks to PROSOL more than 80.000m² of solar collectors are installed every year.

Source: Re-blogged from http://www.unep.org

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TROPICAL FOREST PROTECTION MAKES CLIMATE SENSE

THE PROBLEM

Deforestation and forest degradation account for between 15 and 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – making it the second biggest contributor to the build-up of greenhouse gases after the energy sector. However, reducing emissions requires large investments in conservation, sustainable management and the restoration of tropical forests. UNEP’s Green Economy Report estimates that US$40 billion dollars annually will be needed to halve the deforestation rate, and these resources need to be invested strategically.

THE SOLUTION

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), aims at creating financial value for the carbon stored in forests, offering incentives for developing countries to reduce emissions from forested lands and invest in low-carbon paths to sustainable development. REDD+ goes beyond deforestation, and includes the roles of conservation, sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks. The UN-REDD Programme was launched in 2008 and builds on the convening role and technical expertise of FAO, UNDP and UNEP.
Although initiated primarily for mitigation purposes, REDD+ holds the promise of multiple benefits for climate, development and conservation in the forest sector at national and global levels. The UN-REDD Programme works with countries to extract benefits from forests through support to national REDD+ programmes, capacity building and technical support. There is also a significant potential for strategies to go beyond reducing deforestation alone and contribute to the larger goals of increasing sustainable development and building the green economy. UNEP is working to identify the types of intervention that add value to the economy, increase revenue, and provide new livelihood opportunities while conserving forests and reducing emissions.

THE IMPACTS

The Programme supports national REDD+ readiness efforts in 44 partner countries, spanning Africa, Asia- Pacific and Latin America and covering 56 per cent of the world’s tropical forests. Currently, 16 of those countries have approved National Programmes with activities structured to facilitate the REDD+ readiness process in those countries. In addition, the UN-REDD Programme provides targeted support to partner countries upon request for specific activities related to readiness including stakeholder engagement; support to a national approach to safeguards; Measurement, Reporting and Verification; and pursuing investment options. The Programme has allocated over US$118 million dollars in support of REDD+ Readiness in partner countries.

SUPPORT

Donors: Denmark, Japan, Norway, Spain
Participating UN Organizations: FAO, UNDP, UNEP

WEBSITE

• www.un-redd.org

SUCCESS STORY

The Government of Indonesia (GoI), with a range of partners including UNEP and the UN-REDD programme, is exploring how REDD+ investments can leverage sustainable change in Central Kalimantan’s vast forested landscapes, so that green development with sustainable, equitable job creation can go hand in hand with climate, conservation and development objectives.
Initial scenarios have been developed that show that a green development pathway, which involves some modification in the way oil palm expansion takes place, can outperform ‘business-as-usual’ in terms of GDP growth rates for the region by as much as 6 per cent, with even greater benefits for the ‘GDP of the Poor’. While these first results will need to be subjected to rigorous peer-review and broad consultation, they provide a scenario for development and economic growth coupled with necessary emissions reductions.

Source : Re-blogged from http://www.unep.org

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