AfDB Approves US$5.65 million to Pilot Innovative Climate Finance for Renewable Energy in Fragile African States

The African Development Bank (AfDB), through its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA), has approved a US$5.65 million grant to pilot an innovative climate finance initiative aimed at expanding access to renewable energy in Africa’s most fragile and underserved regions.

Co-funded by the Nordic Development Fund, which matched the US$5.65 million contribution, the total facility amounts to US$11.3 million. It will be overseen by Camco Clean Energy, a climate-focused investment manager, alongside Energy Peace Partners, a U.S.-based non-profit that created the Peace Renewable Energy Certificate (P-REC) label. These certificates are generated exclusively from small-scale mini-grid projects operating in conflict-affected and energy-deficient communities. They are purchased voluntarily by multinational companies seeking to channel their sustainability investments into initiatives that deliver meaningful social and environmental benefits. The facility will sign long-term purchase agreements with eligible mini-grid developers operating in 14 frontier countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda. Under this arrangement, developers will receive upfront financing in return for transferring the rights to the renewable energy certificates generated by their projects. The facility will then market these certificates to international corporate buyers, directing much-needed hard currency back to developers in regions where access to commercial financing remains highly constrained. 

About 856,000 people—half of them women—are expected to gain first-time electricity access through 240,000 new connections and 71 MW of renewable capacity. The project supports Mission 300, the AfDB–World Bank initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030, with the Nordic Development Fund contributing through its renewable energy investments and partnership role.