During the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt (COP27), the ‘SDG Namibia One Fund’ has been launched. This new fund is premised on the principles of an innovative blended finance platform to facilitate and accelerate the development of a green hydrogen sector and economy in Namibia. The fund has been created through a partnership between the Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (owned by the Namibian Government), Climate Fund Managers and Invest International.
Andrew Johnstone, CEO Climate Fund Managers: “We’re about to lose the battle against climate change. We believe that green hydrogen is the energy transition pathway and the solution.”
Namibia has world class conditions for generating renewable electricity through solar and wind power, which are key drivers to reduce the production cost of green hydrogen. To exploit and benefit from this potential, the Namibian Government has high ambitions for both building large scale solar and wind farms and producing green energy carriers and raw materials. Therefore, the Namibian Government commissioned Climate Fund Managers and Invest International to set up a dedicated fund to channel all renewable hydrogen financing in Namibia on behalf of the government.
“We use blended finance structuring to attract both public and private capital to invest so we can support the implementation of green hydrogen projects in Namibia”, says Andrew Johnstone.
“This gives private sector developers access to capital from an early stage of development, throughout construction until operations.”
Invest International will act as an anchor investor in the ‘SDG Namibia One Fund’ and will provide a grant of 40 million euros to contribute to the first closing of the fund. It is the intention that other donors and investors will also join the journey to help Namibia into its green transition by making substantial contributions to the fund in the future. It is envisaged that the fund size will be 1 billion euros.
Joost Oorthuizen, CEO Invest International: “With this fund we want to empower the Namibian government to take control of this unique opportunity. It will help the government in their key role to make strategic decisions about investing in projects that strengthen the local green transition. In that way it contributes to the development of the country in terms of economic growth, creation of jobs and local use of green hydrogen.”
Climate Fund Managers (CFM) is an investment manager proudly contributing towards mitigating and building resilience to climate change in the areas most affected by its consequences. They use blended finance structuring to attract public and private capital to invest in high-impact sectors in emerging economies. And, believe in a world where sustainable investing and profitability are not mutually exclusive. Providing financing solutions for infrastructure developers in the renewable energy, water sanitation and ocean sectors, the fund structures providing investments across the entire project lifecycle (development, construction and operational stages).
Read more on Climate Fund ManagersThe Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) is a fund created by the Parliament of the Republic of Namibia with the overall aim supporting individuals, projects and communities that ensure the sustainable use of natural resources. The EIF is building a sustainable fund that supports a variety of new and existing initiatives in the country. In doing so, they create partnerships with NGOs, Government, community-based organizations and the business community to ensure that their projects are well–positioned in the socio-economic and environmental tapestry of development, and to guarantee the buy–in of the local and international stakeholders.
Read more on EIF
