Friday, 20 January

Dear <<First Name>>

Camco’s ambition to help drive climate action across the Pacific took a significant step forward today with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with renewable energy sector leading consultancy, ITP Renewables. 

Despite many Pacific Island Nations having set progressive renewable energy targets, there are very few developers in the region capable of bringing projects to financial close without technical and/or development capital assistance. Without new financing solutions to attract private capital to support the growth of the sector, islands will be unable to break free from the economic burden of importing diesel for energy production and its environmental consequences.  

That’s why we created the Transforming Island Development through Electrification and Sustainability facility (TIDES), a USD100 million blended finance platform to provide local developers with the flexible financing and technical assistance they need to carry out projects and help scale the sector. 

Through the MoU, ITP Renewables will support us in TIDES’ implementation by – among other things - providing its world class renewable energy consulting services to the platform’s development partners, projects and investees at competitive rates. Find out more in the press release here. 

Working together we will be able to combine ITP Renewables' technical expertise with our own global financing knowledge to deliver the innovative and cost-effective private sector-led solutions needed to ramp up renewables across the Pacific. I feel very excited by this new partnership and can’t wait to get started. 

Cheers 

Geoff Sinclair

Managing Director, Camco 

West Africa

Ivory Coast: Amea Power gets approval for 50MWp solar power plant (Afrik21)
- The IPP has signed agreements with the Ivorian authorities for the financing and construction of a plant in Bondoukou, which will be connected to the national grid. 

Ivory Coast: FAO to fund green projects in 14 councils to combat climate change (Afrik21)
- The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation is set to launch its "green cities" initiative in the country next month, which will involve strengthening climate resilience to improve the living conditions of the population.

Nigeria: Country launches renewables roadmap in collaboration with IRENA (ESI Africa)
- The Nigerian government has partnered with IRENA to develop a renewable energy roadmap for Nigeria that demonstrates how clean energy technologies are key to achieving a sustainable energy mix and meeting the country's growing needs. 

Senegal: Work on Sambangalou multipurpose dam gets underway (Afrik21)
- Once completed, the hydroelectric dam is expected to deliver an annual capacity of 402GWh.

Sierra Leone: Piloting a new financing model to scale energy access (InfraCo)
- InfraCo Africa and REPP-investee PowerGen Renewable Energy have announced that they are collaborating to roll out further mini-grids across the country, with InfraCo committing up to USD1.2 million to the initiative.

East Africa

Madagascar: WeLight raises EUR19 million to deploy solar mini-grids (Afrik21)
- The electricity access provider has secured the funding from the EIB, Triodos Investment Management and the EU's EDFI to electrify 120 villages across the country. 

Mozamique: Ncondezi Energy secures land for solar power plant (Afrik21)
- The energy company has obtained 950 hectares of land in the Tete province for the 300MWh plant, making it the largest solar facility in the country.

Southern Africa

South Africa: Investec Bank obtains USD80 million to finance climate projects (Afrik21)
- AFD subsidiary Proparco is partnering with the bank to implement the Transforming Financial Systems for Climate (TFSC) programme. The financing will be dedicated to climate projects across 17 countries. 

South Africa: Government working on energy relief packages for struggling SMMEs (ESI Africa)
- The intervention by Department of Small Business Development aims to alleviate the devastating impacts of loadshedding.

Africa - other

Finance: Africa to outdo the rest of the world in economic growth in 2023-2024 (ESI Africa)
- According to the recent Africa's Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook report by the AfDB, growth in the continent is set to outpace the global forecast with a real gross domestic product averaging around 4%.

Manufacturing: New initiative to scale up renewable energy manufacturing capabilites (ESI Africa)
- Global partners recently launched the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Initiative to help drive the financial, technical and socioeconomic investments required to advance clean energy development and transition in Africa.

Solar: Africa Solar Outlook is looking bright (ESI Africa)
- The annual African Solar Outlook 2023 paints a sunny picture, pointing out that South Africa, Morocco and Egypt now have growing competition as solar installation hotspots.

Pacific

Australia: Country's climate policy is meaningless unless it transitions away from fossil fuels (Guardian)
- Op-ed examining how the country's policy is 'not a climate policy, it's a cover story' and the role of carbon credits to "offset" pollution. 

New Zealand: Prime Minister announces shock resignation (Bloomberg)
- Jacinda Ardern is to step down ahead of a general election later this year after telling reporters that she doesn't have the energy or inspiration to seek re-election. 

Rest of the world

Climate: More than 90% of rainforest offests by biggest provider are wortheless, analysis shows (Guardian)
- Research into Verra, the world's leading carbon standard for the offsets market, has found that credits used by the company are likely "phantom credits" and do not represent genuine carbon reductions.

Climate: Study reveals little-known climate cooler: atmospheric dust (Bloomberg)
- New research finds that global temperatures would be about 0.1°F higher had it not been for an increase in atmospheric dust.

Climate: 'Super-tipping points' could trigger cascade of climate action (Guardian)
- Op-ed exploring how relatively small policy interventions on electric cars, plant-based alternatives to meat, and green fertilisers could lead to unstoppable growth in those sectors.

EU: Four nations call for zero emissions target for heavy duty vehicles (Bloomberg)
- The Netherlands, backed by Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, is leading calls for the EU to target zero emissions from heavy duty vehicles to bring the polluting sector in line with its climate neutrality goals.

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