Deadline: 26-Aug-21
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) invites GEF Partner Agencies to submit proposals and investment opportunities under the Non-Grant Instrument Program (the GEF-7 “NGI Program”).
Since 2008, the GEF and its Partner Agencies have successfully used a wide array of non-grant instruments such as debt, equity and guarantees to attract private sector investment and deliver global environmental benefits beyond business as usual.
Funding Information
- The maximum financing amount per project/program is USD 15 million.
- The maximum maturity of the financing is 20 years but in equity investments.
Eligibility Criteria
Proposals must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the NGI Program financing:
- Geography: project beneficiaries must be in eligible GEF recipient countries;
- GEF Partner Agency eligibility requirements: the GEF will accept proposals submitted by Partner Agencies that are eligible to administer concessional finance as described in the Guidelines of Project and Cycle Policy. Partner Agencies will submit information regarding their compliance with these requirements.The Partner Agencies will also be required to comply with the reflows procedures established in their respective Financial Procedures Agreement with the GEF Trustee.
- Modalities: middle-sized projects, full-sized projects and programs;
- Non-grant instruments: include but are not limited to:
- debt,
- risk mitigation products or
- equity instruments disclosed in Policy – Non-Grant Instruments, FI/PL/02, October 10, 2014;
- Alignment with GEF-7 programming directions.
Selection Criteria
The selection criteria will focus on the following:
- Scalability: Specific emphasis will be placed in financial structures or investment platforms aimed at scaling-up proposals beyond “one-by one” projects. Partner Agencies are encouraged to submit a transaction diagram in the Project Justification or Programmatic Justification sections of the PIF/PFD respectively.
- Investment platforms that combine grant and non-grant investment services;
- Capital markets transactions;
- Structured finance;
- Investments aligned with GEF-7 Impact Programs, such as value chains in agribusiness and commodities;
- Appropriate and enhanced co-financing ratios in line with the intended impact of the proposal and in the context of each focal area and country capacity;
- Attractive financial terms. Each proposal will be requested to submit a termsheet with indicative terms and conditions.
- High financial additionality: In the termsheet, each proposal must specify:
- the financing barriers addressed with the GEF blended finance resources and
- quantification of financial additionality;
- Capacity to generate reflows: Any financial returns/gains/interests earned on non-grant instruments, will be transferred to the GEF Trust Fund as noted.
- Innovative financial solutions. These include but are not limited to: digital and technology solutions for environmental protection, platforms linking major suppliers and consumers in the supply chain, fintech, block chain, special purpose vehicles, or multi-stakeholder platforms, among others.
- Global environmental benefits. Proposals will be evaluated based on their contribution to GEF focal areas, Impact Programs and their capacity to generate global environmental benefits.
For more information, visit https://www.thegef.org/documents/fifth-call-proposals-gef-7-non-grant-instrument-program