The Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform’s New Partners
UAE – Three additional partners have joined the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform (ETAF), which is Irena’s global climate finance platform. The new partners are; Masdar, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Swiss Re. By 2030, the ETAF wants to raise enough money to support more renewable initiatives in underdeveloped nations.
Irena’s ETAF Platform, which it manages, uses its partners’ established track record in developing creative financial solutions to benefit its member nations.
It also gains from the UAE’s leadership in climate investment in the years leading up to COP28, which the UAE will host in 2023.
The Partners’ Investments
At the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, cooperation agreements with Masdar, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Swiss Re were signed in person. As part of the partnership, AIIB plans to invest $300 million.
Masdar plans to contribute to the initiative with a possible investment of up to $200 million. With insurance solutions and risk information, Swiss Re can assist in helping to derisk these essential investments.
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), a founding partner and early investor, has already anchored a $400 million commitment. ETAF closes on collecting a minimum of $1 billion in total capital to launch Calls for Projects.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) declared its interest in joining ETAF and intends to co-finance up to USD 100 million of ETAF projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that use renewable energy and decarbonization technology.
The Announcement and Statements
The announcement was made in the presence of Irena’s Director-General Francesco La Camera; Mohammed Saif Al Suwaidi, Director-General of ADFD; Majid Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the UAE-hosted COP28; AIIB President Liqun Jin; Masdar’s CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi; Swiss Re Chair of Public Sector Solutions Veronica Scotti and IDB’s Graham Watkins, Division Chief, Climate Change and Sustainable Development.
According to La Camera, Irena can promote capital mobilisation to hasten the energy transition in underdeveloped nations thanks to today’s promises. In response to the climate issue, ETAF, a genuinely global financial platform, will alter the investment environment in developing countries.
According to him, they can drive the transition to promote socioeconomic effect and climate resilience by working with their partners to channel international investment to scale renewable energy projects that will ensure electricity for people and communities who need it the most locally.
He also said that by working with their partners, they could direct international funding to large-scale renewable energy projects that would ensure electricity for the people and communities who need it most on the ground and progress the transition to create socioeconomic impact and climate resilience.
Majid Al Suwaidi expressed optimism about adding new partners to the Energy Transition Accelerator Financing (ETAF) Platform run. Only one-fifth of investments in clean energy come from developing and emerging economies; the ETAF is assisting in filling this crucial gap in the world’s energy transformation.