The African development arm of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), InfraCo Africa has announced that it will invest $43 million into Climate, Energy Access and Resilience (CLEAR).
The climate-focused fund is advised by Helios Investment Partners (Helios).
The design of the CLEAR Fund was refined and realised by PIDG and InfraCo Africa through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s ‘MOBILISE’ Sustainable Infrastructure Competition. MOBILISE supports investment solutions looking to list on global or local stock exchanges that help emerging and frontier markets spur progress towards UN Global Goals and deliver the climate transition.
Recall that the UK government had during the COP26 summit held in November 2021, renewed its commitment to PIDG and announced its support for the CLEAR Fund and its intention to list its assets on a major stock exchange in due course, through the MOBILISE programme.
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The latest announcement follows on from this commitment to address the growing demand from domestic and international investors for sustainable investment opportunities across Africa.
CLEAR is expected to fund climate-aligned assets and growth opportunities whilst also contributing towards the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, drawing on PIDG and Helios’ distinctive blend of private sector development and investment expertise and track record of delivering impact in Africa,
In his response, InfraCo Africa’s CEO, Gilles Vaes said, “The result of this collaboration is an innovative fund which addresses today’s global challenges around climate change and the need for transparent, sustainable investment opportunities,”.
Speaking further, he said “CLEAR also offers a new opportunity for African infrastructure developers, such as us, to either sell down equity and recycle development funding or secure a credible partner to support future growth. CLEAR provides a missing piece of the puzzle and one which will be critically important if we are to accelerate action on climate change whilst also closing the infrastructure gap in Africa.”
Also reacting to the development, CLEAR Co-Head, Tavraj Banga said, “We will focus on investments that enable emissions to be decoupled from economic growth while helping build adaptive capacity to allow the population to cope with the risks of climate change – improving the health and lives of Africans.”
Story was adapted from ESI Africa.
