P4G Awards USD 4.3 Million to Partnerships Advancing Green Cities, Electric Buses and Renewable Energy in Developing Countries

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10/20/18

Media Contact: Frank Walter, frank.walter@p4gpartnerships.org

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P4G AWARDS USD 4.3 MILLION TO PARTNERSHIPS ADVANCING GREEN CITIES, ELECTRIC BUSES AND RENEWABLE ENERGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

COPENHAGEN—20 October—Projects for zero waste in e-commerce packaging, zero emission buses, net zero carbon buildings and boosting renewable energy investments are among six public-private partnerships awarded US$4.3 million in funds following a global competition aimed at helping developing countries deliver inclusive growth and meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

P4G, the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 Initiative, is helping unlock these benefits through the innovative inaugural set of partnerships announced at the P4G Copenhagen Summit, which convened Heads of State and Government, Ministers, CEOs, investors and civil society leaders to promote the economic, environmental and social value of accelerating public-private partnerships for sustainable development and growth.

“These public-private partnerships provide tangible social, environmental and economic benefits and reflect the type of innovation needed to drive sustainable growth,” said P4G Global Director, Ian de Cruz. “For example, widespread adoption of electric buses will make the air cleaner for residents of Latin America’s largest cities, reducing plastic waste in China means less plastic in our oceans, and investments in renewable power in sub-Sahara Africa bring much-needed electricity that can boost economic growth in the world’s poorest region.” 

A recent report by the New Climate Economy noted that climate action and green growth could deliver at least US$26 trillion in economic benefits through 2030 compared with business-as-usual, including the creation of over 65 million new low-carbon jobs, the avoidance of over 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution and the generation of an estimated US$2.8 trillion in government revenues through subsidy reform and carbon pricing. About half of this growth is expected to occur in developing countries.

The six scale-up partnerships are among 24 partnerships P4G is funding and/or facilitating in 2018 following a global competition that attracted 450 submissions from 80 countries. The partnerships had to present innovative solutions for either a start-up or scale-up partnerships in one or more developing country and within P4G’s five focus areas: food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and circular economy.

P4G 2018 Scale-Up Partnerships Receiving Funding

Africa GreenCo

This partnership aims to mobilise private sector investment for renewable energy in sub-Sahara Africa—a region where 600 million people are without energy access. Africa GreenCo will strengthen national and the Southern African Power Pool markets and lead the shift away from the current model of African governments taking on heavy liabilities for individual energy projects. Its first project is in Zambia, working with the Government of Zambia and its development partners (the Agence Française de Développement, the European Commission, the African Development Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa). Long term, Africa GreenCo hopes to attract US$2billion in private investments to stimulate development of 2,500 MW of new renewable energy projects across the region, which would create an estimated 645,000 direct and indirect jobs and avoid nearly 200 million tons of carbon emissions equivalent. P4G awarded US$600,000 to Africa GreenCo.

Clean Energy Investment Accelerator

This partnership will scale up commercial and industrial clean energy deployment in Colombia and Vietnam. As more companies strive to power their global operations with significant amounts of renewable energy, improved electricity purchasing options are increasingly needed around the world. Led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in partnership with Allotrope Partners, and World Resources Institute, Clean Energy Investment Accelerator (CEIA) supports commercial and industrial power purchasers with project evaluation and procurement models, identifies and catalyzes aggregated deals to improve project financing opportunities and costs, and engages with the public sector to strengthen policies for improved clean energy investment environments. P4G awarded US$600,000 to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The Cities Climate Action Project supported by the Building Energy Efficiency Accelerator

This partnership, led by the World Green Building Council in collaboration with the Building Efficiency Accelerator, will scale up efforts in Colombia and Mexico to increase the adoption and deployment of energy efficiency policies and practices to reduce building energy use. A third of the world’s energy goes to light, heat, and cool buildings. Better building efficiency policies can result in 25-50 percent reductions in energy demand from both new and existing buildings, saving money and reducing pollution. Energy efficiency measures in the building sector could deliver 5.8 billion tons of CO2 emissions savings by 2050. P4G awarded US$600,000 to the World Green Building Council. 

Global Smart Green Logistics Innovation

In China, P4G will team up with two Chinese entities to lead a public-private partnership to expand a green logistics city initiative. P4G will work with China Environmental Protection Foundation (CEPF) and Cainiao Smart Logistics Network Ltd. (“Cainiao”), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group , to spearhead the refinement and growth of a model for green-packaging, zero packaging waste and electric vehicles delivery from the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen to other cities in China and beyond, aiding P4G’s overall vision of creating a global green logistics initiative. With more than 40 billion packages a year in China alone, this integrated public-private model can help other cities and countries move down the path to zero plastic and packaging waste at scale. To help the project grow, P4G awarded US$1 million in scale-up funding to CEPF.

Sustainable Special Economic Zone Africa

The mission of SSEZ Africa is to transform special economic zones into vibrant hubs of low-carbon, sustainable and inclusive business. The partnership is led by Made in Africa Initiative, an UNDP supported non-governmental organization working to bring light manufacturing investment and jobs to Africa; LADOL, which operates a special economic zone in Nigeria; and SYSTEMIQ, a company set up to accelerate delivery of the SDGs across economic systems. SSEZ Africa will identify, develop and launch these zones in Ethiopia and Kenya by working with government leaders, investors and businesses. The zones are expected to incorporate sustainable development best practices of zero waste, waste-to-energy, reduced water and energy use. Long term, SSEZ Africa hopes to unlock 160,000 direct jobs and attract $8.6 billion in sustainable investment in Africa. P4G awarded US$600,000 to the Made in Africa Initiative

Zero Emission Bus Rapid-deployment Accelerator

This partnership led by International Council on Clean Transportation in collaboration with C40 Cities will initially work with Medellin, São Paulo and Mexico City in their efforts to plan, finance, and deploy electric bus fleets. Over the next two years, the ZEBRA partnership seeks to secure commitments from major bus and engine manufacturers to support the growth of electric buses in Latin America through collaboration with cities on vehicle specifications, charging strategies, pilot projects, financing and other steps necessary for fleet-wide deployment of zero emission buses. In addition, it will seek regional financial institutions to commit US$1 billion in available financing to replace older diesel buses with electric bus purchases. P4G awarded US$ 900,000 to the ICCT.

About P4G

P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – is a new initiative with the ambition of becoming the world’s leading forum for developing concrete public-private partnerships at scale to deliver on the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. The government of Denmark is providing funding to P4G from 2018-2022. P4G is a collaborative partnership among nine partner countries Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Korea and Vietnam.  In addition, C40 Cities, World Economic Forum, Global Green Growth Institute and World Resources Institute are partner organizations to P4G. P4G’s global hub is hosted at the World Resources Institute.

Editor’s Note: As the global hub for P4G, World Resources Institute is not eligible to receive direct funding for P4G partnerships but is providing subject expertise and support to the partnerships.