Infrastructure provider Africa Finance Corp. (AFC) has joined with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to launch the Africa Sovereign Climate Facility (ASCF), a $690-million effort to support climate initiatives and speed low-carbon, climate-resilient development across Africa.
The groups signed their pact at a ceremony in South Korea on November 3. The ASCF is designed to help African countries address the growing impacts of climate change while advancing their economic development priorities, with an emphasis on energy projects among others. The program will combine technical assistance, capacity building, and large-scale blended finance. Officials said it will integrate climate considerations into national development planning, and accelerate what they call Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Samaila Zubairu, president and CEO of AFC, said, “The infrastructure we build today must both power Africa’s growth and withstand the climate pressures of tomorrow. Through this partnership with GCF, we are combining concessional finance with AFC’s project development expertise and capital to help governments turn national priorities into reliable energy, stronger food and water systems, and resilient infrastructure. Success will be measured in businesses that keep producing, communities better protected and jobs sustained. That is how climate finance becomes an investment in Africa’s lasting prosperity.”
Initial Development Focus
The first phase of the program will focus on project development in Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria. Officials in a news release on Tuesday wrote that those countries “face significant climate vulnerabilities, infrastructure deficits and rising greenhouse gas emissions. Through an integrated, country-led approach, the ASCF will support interventions across critical sectors, including clean energy, health and well-being, food and water security, and climate-resilient infrastructure and the built environment.”
Catherine Koffman, GCF Regional Director for Africa, said, “The Africa Sovereign Climate Facility will help Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria turn national climate priorities into investable projects in clean energy, resilient infrastructure, food systems and water security. GCF’s $280 million [USD] is designed to work alongside substantial co-financing, reaching an estimated 4.5 million people and avoiding 3.4 million tonnes of emissions. This partnership shows how blended finance can strengthen sovereign investment systems and deliver climate capital at scale.”
The launch builds on AFC’s longstanding partnership with GCF to mobilize climate finance and advance sustainable infrastructure development across Africa. In 2023, GCF committed $253 million to AFC Capital Partners’ Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF), supporting the development of climate-resilient infrastructure as an investable asset class, and helping catalyze additional investment from institutional and private-sector investors. The groups said their collaboration “reflects a shared commitment to using innovative financing structures to address Africa’s infrastructure needs while strengthening resilience to climate change.”
Parallel Commercial Facility
AFC as part of its participation in the ASCF will arrange and fully fund a parallel commercial facility of up to $260 million, for a 10-year period, for Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria through the countries’ respective finance ministries. Officials said the facility “will complement concessional climate financing, expanding the capital available to support eligible investments while helping participating governments integrate climate resilience and low-carbon development into national planning.”
Officials noted that over its lifetime the ASCF “is expected to reduce, avoid, remove or sequester approximately 5.78 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) in greenhouse gas emissions— roughly equivalent to removing 1.3 million cars from the road for one year. The programme is also expected to reach 5.2 million beneficiaries through climate adaptation interventions, equivalent to the current estimated population of Cape Town, South Africa.”
Climate analysts have said that Africa is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, “with rising temperatures, increasingly unpredictable rainfall and more frequent extreme weather events threatening livelihoods, food and water security, infrastructure and economic productivity.” The continent’s rapid population growth, and increasing urbanization of its population, continue to pressure public services and infrastructure, which officials have said reinforces the urgency of embedding climate resilience into the continent’s development.
The groups involved in Tuesday’s launch said the program reinforces AFC’s commitment to mobilizing capital and deploying innovative financing solutions to address Africa’s infrastructure needs, while in turn supporting sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient economic growth. AFC officials said that the group’s partnership with the Green Climate Fund will help it bridge the gap between Africa’s climate ambitions and the financing required turn those plans “into tangible development outcomes.”
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
