Deadline: 31-Aug-22
Applications are now open for the Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA), a four-year technical assistance programme, funded by the UK Government’s International Climate Finance in the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
It responds directly to the urgency and scale of the climate crisis by supporting highly promising low-carbon projects to become more bankable and appealing to investors.
In Pakistan, the CFA brings together the key actors in the climate finance ‘supply chain’: project proponents & developers, finance providers (private and public, national, regional & global) and policymakers. Their aim is to facilitate a collaborative approach to unlocking finance for climate projects at scale and creating a pipeline of ‘investment ready’ low carbon projects. The CFA also seeks to deliver several co-benefits, such as supporting a just transition and green recovery efforts from COVID-19 through inclusive approaches to sustainable development, improved gender equality, and building resilience to climate impacts.
Priorities
- There is an insufficient pipeline of bankable projects.
- Provide advice and support to project proponents to enable them develop high quality, bankable proposals.
- Project proponents struggle to access finance, financiers struggle to identify bankable projects.
- Provide a convening function to improve connections between proponents and financiers.
- Enabling environment barriers are preventing a functioning climate finance ecosystem.
- Recommend solutions to policy makers to address enabling environment barriers.
Focus Areas
- Project Initiation: The CFA Supports partner countries in identifying and engaging with a pipeline of low-carbon projects.
- Project Development: The CFA Supports project proponents by enabling them to demonstrate feasibility of the project and develop bankable proposals.
- Primary Finance: The CFA improve connections between project proponents and financiers to identify primary project financing.
- Secondary Finance: The CFA helps build long-term capacity to enable project proponents to engage with institutional investors for refinancing of projects.
Funding Information
Have a minimum total financing need of US$10M.
Benefits
By engaging with the CFA programme, project developers can benefit from:
- Access to investors. The CFA provides project developers greater opportunities to access finance by working directly with potential investors to understand their needs and develop their projects accordingly. Through the CFA’s reach, project proponents have the opportunity to reach commercial and concessional investors, operating both nationally and internationally. The CFA Programme is also holding a series of workshops in London in February 2023 with City of London financiers. Projects of appropriate size and readiness from the CFA Pakistan programme will be invited to attend.
- Coaching and best practice insights. The CFA provides access to expert insight and coaching. Through knowledge sharing sessions on what matters to financiers when taking the decision to invest, project developers will gain valuable insights and develop capabilities in making projects attractive and investment ready. For example, the CFA will advise on the development of key materials such as term sheets for investors and marketing presentations. Exchanges of best practices with other CFA countries (Türkiye, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt, and Pakistan) will also be enabled.
- Networking opportunities. Project developers will have the opportunity to expand their network with investors and other key stakeholders in the climate finance landscape. These include government representatives at national and local level, national and international development banks & agencies, and a cohort of projects facing similar challenges. The network will provide project developers with long-lasting benefits to current and future low carbon opportunities.
- Increased visibility. Participation in the CFA and CFA events can raise the profile of a project amongst a range of stakeholders from regional and national policy makers, through to a range of stakeholders from local and international finance providers.
- Achieving low carbon project objectives. The CFA supports projects to realise and communicate their positive impacts. The CFA has access to climate, sectoral and social impact specialists and can assist projects to support local and national climate ambitions, as well as helping to unlock co-benefits such as poverty reduction, improved gender equality and social inclusion, and tackling biodiversity loss.
How the CFA Pakistan can support your project?
- The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) is a practical and deal-oriented programme that supports climate projects to improve their bankability and appeal to financiers.
- Preparing projects that are attractive to investors is challenging. Low carbon projects are often perceived as higher risk as new technologies and business models are not widely understood. Regulatory and policy barriers can also create blockages in accessing capital at scale.
- The Climate Finance Accelerator offers a range of support to assist climate mitigation projects in accessing finance.
Eligibility Criteria
- The CFA supports low carbon projects that are seeking finance.
- Candidate projects should:
- Be designed to achieve measurable climate outcomes in terms of direct or facilitated greenhouse gas emission reductions.
- Smaller projects may be considered in certain circumstances. Funds or similar structures consisting of multiple smaller projects are also welcomed.
- Be (at least) at the pre-feasibility stage of development.
- Have a business model that will generate commercially viable returns in the long-term (although some element of concessional financing may be required initially).
- They strongly encourage projects that can demonstrate positive social impacts and how they contribute to furthering gender equality and social inclusion
For more information, visit https://cfapakistan.com/