Nov 04, 2021
Unveiled today, the CIF’s Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) and the Renewable Energy Integration Program (REI)
Coal combustion is costly for climate, the economy, and public health. It’s the single-largest source of global temperature increase and contributes to air pollution causing +4 million deaths annually. What’s more, thousands of coal mines continue to act as primary sources of energy, jobs, and other economic activities in developing countries, presenting a significant obstacle to achieving climate-related targets.
Which is why the Climate Investment Funds are announcing a double initiative today.
Collectively worth in the region of $2.3b, the Accelerating Coal Transition (ACT) Investment program and the Renewable Energy Integration Program (REI) are two powerful investment programs with one important mission: Facilitate a just transition to clean energy essential to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C by 2030.
What are they and who benefits?
Accelerating Coal Transition
ACT is a $2b program, the first of its kind, designed to de-risk, pilot, and scale investments across three critical dimensions of the coal transition: governance, people, and infrastructure. This includes efforts to enhance national capacity to manage clean energy transitions, repurpose coal assets, and create sustainable economic opportunities and social protection programs for coal-dependent communities.
Supported by financial pledges from the USA, UK, Germany, Canada and Denmark, the first beneficiaries are South Africa, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, together representing +15% of global coal-related emissions.
Selection criteria included national ambition, potential for transformational change and private sector mobilization.
Renewable Energy Integration Program
“A formidable barrier to renewables deployment is hiding in plain sight: power systems that are not up to the job,” said CIF CEO Mafalda Duarte, “To deliver a climate-smarter future for all, we need sound financial and regulatory conditions that bring the right technologies and infrastructure online. I’m proud to say REI is today the most significant global effort to do precisely that.”
Thanks to financial pledges from the Netherlands, UK, and Switzerland, the $300m REI is the world’s only large-scale investment program dedicated to tackling barriers to clean energy integration in emerging economies. It will aim to scale public and private investments in energy storage, smart grids, hybrid technologies, and so prepare transmission infrastructure for rapid adoption of renewables.
Ukraine, Fiji, Columbia, Kenya and Mali are first to benefit with Costa Rica, Indonesia, Turkey, India and Brazil, as next in line.
The Power of two…
Both programs are a blend of concessional finance and technical know-how delivered in partnership with multi-lateral development banks (MDBs). Both benefit from CIF’s unrivalled 12-year record in mobilizing climate finance. They will combine to act in concert to help developing economies meet their climate goals, countries need to source two-thirds of their energy supply from renewables by 2050. But, to keep pace with clean energy uptake, infrastructure investments must expand to $820b annually by 2030.
Both ACT and REI will aim to put the world on that pathway.
Learn more about the press release:
- CIF Unveils Effort to Prepare Power Grids in Developing Countries for a Clean Energy Future
- CIF Begins Historic $2.5B Coal Transition Pilot in Four Developing Countries
