The Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA) has reached a new stage. This initiative, launched at COP27 in Egypt, has received initial funding of $175 million. Development partners were mobilised on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Contributing financial institutions include the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa50, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the Three Cairns Group and Proparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency. There are also contributing countries such as Japan, France and Germany.
Catalysing private investment
“Germany is very pleased to participate in the launch of Agia. We congratulate the AfDB on this important Africa-led initiative and would like to underline Agia’s commitment to the 1.5°C target and to accelerating carbon neutrality in Africa”, said Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development.
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Through Agia, the AfDB aims to mobilise USD 500 million to catalyse USD 10 billion of private capital for green infrastructure projects. The alliance will focus on the energy, transport, water and sanitation, health infrastructure, broadband infrastructure and urban and rural infrastructure sectors.
According to the AfDB, Agia will support large-scale programmes, such as solar mega-projects or green hydrogen projects, as well as smaller venture capital initiatives, such as clean technology projects, energy storage or green mobility solutions across the African continent. These objectives are also supported by the Global Centre for Adaptation (GCA), the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) and the African Sovereign Investors Forum (ASIF), which have not yet specified their participation in this AfDB initiative.
Jean Marie Takouleu