P4G Announces Nine New Scale-Up Partnerships to Advance Sustainable Global Growth

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Contact: Sangeetha Sarma, Head of Communications, sangeetha.sarma@p4gpartnerships.org

WASHINGTON, DC – May 19, 2020 – Today, the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) initiative awarded Scale-Up funding to nine public-private partnerships to accelerate their transformative business models aimed at helping countries reach their Sustainable Development Goals and build more resilient economies. The 2020 P4G Scale-Up Partnerships will each receive up to $1,000,000 in funding.

“P4G’s mission of investing in inclusive and viable new finance and business models comes to life with our cohort of Scale-Up Partnerships. We’re pleased to welcome this group of innovators to our family. As countries plan their COVID-19 recoveries, these transformative models provide the immediate responses needed to achieve a low carbon recovery and will help move the needle in this decade of action and delivery. As our P4G impact model is enhanced, we will apply our venture capital approach and leverage our strong eco-system of engaged policymakers and organizational partners to accelerate these partnerships,” says Ian de Cruz, P4G Global Director.

The 2020 Scale-Up Partnerships are models of change that are adapting their solutions and leveraging P4G’s support to meet global COVID-19 economic recovery needs. The IIX Women’s Livelihood Bond Series will mobilize up to $30 million to help more than half a million women access and build capital during a time when they will face enhanced credit challenges. The Circular Fashion Agenda will create models to address the implications of textile manufacturing waste and the cancellation of $2.8 billion worth of orders because of COVID-19 that directly impacts Bangladesh’s garment sector, and FLAWLESS that will test viable financial models of reducing food loss and waste to respond to the increased revenue generating needs of businesses in the food and hospitality sector.

The cohort also includes P4G’s first Scale-Up Partnership pursuing SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation for all. The Finance for WASH Access partnership will work closely with commercial banks and microfinance institutions to unleash private investment capital for water and sanitation solutions in Ethiopia. Other partnerships like ZEBRA and the Getting to Zero Coalition are working to achieve zero emission transit across buses and international shipping respectively.

"P4G has been valuable in bringing us closer to achieve Colombia's climate ambitions through its ability to bring in key players like the private sector. Reducing emissions in transportation is a top priority for us in line with our National Development Plan and our National Strategy for Electric and Sustainable Mobility, and we look forward to an ongoing collaboration with P4G through the ZEBRA partnership. As Colombia and economies around the world recover from COVID-19, we see great value in the on-the-ground approach P4G brings to achieve scalable and sustainable systems change,” said Luis Alberto Rodriguez Ospino, Minister for Planning.

“Cooperation not competition is the key to bringing about the necessary systemic changes and that's true now more than ever as countries and corporations around the world design their COVID-19 responses and recoveries. Sustainability, particularly issues such as climate change and achieving net zero emissions through industry transition, such as international shipping, must remain at the forefront.  We especially value P4G’s ability to implement practical projects at a country level, and look forward to our collaboration with P4G on the Getting to Zero Coalition,” says Børge Brende, World Economic Forum President and P4G Board member.

These nine partnerships join P4G’s growing portfolio of more than 50 partnership-driven business models working across the initiative’s priority sectors: food and agriculture, water, energy, cities, and circular economy. Learn more about the 2020 P4G Scale-Up Partnerships below:

• Circular Fashion Agenda works with manufacturers, recyclers and major fashion brands to improve the resilience of the garment industry and increase political and consumer pressure to make it more sustainable. The partnership will work in Bangladesh to capture and direct fashion waste back into the production of new fashion products to increase the use of recycled materials while also growing revenues for its partners.
• Energise Africa is a crowdfunding platform that allows everyday investors to support small and medium enterprise African solar companies. The partnership will support more than 40 renewable energy companies in Africa by mobilizing more than $1.7 billion in people-powered finance over the next five years, enabling energy access for over 50 million people.
• Finance for WASH Access will work closely with commercial banks and microfinance institutions to unleash private investment capital for water and sanitation solutions in Ethiopia.
• Halving Food Loss and Waste by Leveraging Economic Systems (FLAWLESS) will develop, road test, and deploy commercial financial models of FLW reduction in Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa where the current size of the market is an estimated $85 billion. This partnership could help P4G country partners mobilize millions in private investment, scaling over time, and create a sustainable and resilient model that could be replicated in new markets
• GeoFutures GreenInvest will catalyze funding to geothermal investment projects in Kenya and Ethiopia that can unlock 600 MW of low cost, reliable geothermal power in Kenya and Ethiopia, supply more than 31.5 million households with power, and avoid almost 3.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
• Getting to Zero Coalition will work toward having commercially-viable zero emission deep sea vessels operating by 2030. The partnership will focus on Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa to identify investment opportunities to build a globally sustainable shipping supply chain.
• Sustainable Food Partnership will support issues of food security, nutrition and crop resilience in Ethiopia by producing high nutrient biscuits using locally-sourced drought-resistant crops. The partnership will engage the whole supply chain to increase the profitability of farmers and businesses, and provide better nutrition to women, children and refugee communities. 
• IIX Women’s Livelihood Bond Series will mobilize up to $30 million in capital to empower over half a million women in Indonesia, Kenya and South Africa. Its responsive and resilient model recognizes and supports women as agents of economic change.
• Zero Emissions Bus Rapid-deployment Accelerator (ZEBRA) aims to accelerate the deployment of zero-emission bus fleets in Latin America through national and regional engagement across Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. The partnership aims to facilitate the deployment of approximately 3,600 e-buses and create a combined investment value of at least USD 1.63 billion by 2022 in Latin America.

About P4G

P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – invests in over 50 public-private partnerships with projects in developing countries. P4G is a collaborative partnership among 12 partner countries: Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, South Africa and Vietnam. P4G is funded by the governments of Denmark and the Netherlands and hosted at the World Resources Institute. Other partner organizations include C40 Cities, Global Green Growth Institute, International Finance Corporation, United Nations Global Compact and the World Economic Forum.