The Energy Transition Accelerator Financing Platform (ETAF) has gained three new partners this week at the United Nations COP27 conference in Egypt. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Masdar and Swiss Re all signed partnerships on site in Sharm-El-Sheikh.
ETAF is a programme of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) aimed at channelling capital towards renewable energy developments in developing economies. AIIB said it will deploy US$300 million as part of the partnership, Masdar committed up to US$200 million and Swiss Re will offer insurance solutions and risk insights on the investments.
Added to the founding partner investment of US$400 million by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, these partnerships see ETAF nearing its US$1 billion funding target to mobilise to emerging economies by 2030.
IRENA’s director-general Francesco La Camera said: “Today’s pledges will allow IRENA to facilitate capital mobilisation to accelerate the energy transition in developing countries. As a truly global finance platform, ETAF will change the investment landscape in emerging markets in response to the climate crisis.”
AIIB President JinLiqun said: “Our collaboration with ETAF marks an important step forward for AIIB. This collaboration reflects our commitment to unlock new capital through innovative financing tools, advance the climate agenda and deliver value to our most vulnerable member economies.”
In September, IRENA predicted that solar PV will be key to the energy transition in Southeast Asian nations, one of the emerging areas that ETAF will seek to mobilise funds for. It forecast that countries in the region will install 60GW of PV annually until 2050. Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are all members of AIIB, the latter two also being part of IRENA.