About

9 businesses pitched their business models to investors and key stakeholders in the climate impact ecosystem at the 2023 P4G Colombia Summit and shone a spotlight on concrete investable solutions, their challenges and plans for scaling. The P4G Summit had a sharp focus on channeling climate finance to low- and middle-income countries and the financial mechanisms and enabling environment required to support climate businesses. 

These pitch sessions gave climate businesses an avenue to receive constructive feedback for improvement and build long-term relationships with prospective investors. The pitch sessions were divided across the three Summit tracks of Biodiversity, Energy Transition and Sustainable Cities. 

Judges who provided feedback during the sessions included Gideon Blauww, General Director, Clean Teach Hub Colombia; Wonyoung Kim, Executive Director, Crevisse Partners; Isabelle Foster, WWF Impact, World Wildlife Fund (WWF); Jaswinder Bedi, General Director, Bedi Investments and Chairperson, Kenya Private Sector Alliance; Pham Duy, Head of Investment, National Startup Support Center of Vietnam; Jenitha Badul, Senior Advisor, Department of Environment, South Africa; Clemente Del Valle, Director, Financial Sustainability Center, Universidad de los Andes; Sergio Zuñiga, Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Chamber of Commerce, Cali; and Morten Elkjaer, Senior Vice President, Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) 

Biodiversity 

Transforming Africa’s Bamboo is a P4G partnership that uses native bamboo in Ethiopia to make durable construction materials such as frames for dry walls. African Bamboo, the business partner in the partnership, uses an intensified manufacturing process that halves processing time, cuts energy consumption by more than 30%, and reduces costs by more than 61%, while producing a material that is two times stronger than steel. The company has a competitive advantage because of its focus on biodiversity and climate change. It has created a value of €47.7 million to date with 100% offtake from SECA, a family-owned Austrian business that is one of the leading wood industry companies in Europe. 

Terrasos is a Colombian company that specializes in the structuring and operation of environmental investments. It designs biodiversity banks to offset environmental impacts. These are management mechanisms to restore, create or compensate for the ecological impact of development projects. The company focuses on highly threatened ecosystems with high biodiversity. It establishes conservation and restoration areas and companies purchase biodiversity offset credits from it. The company conducts a rigorous due diligence process to estimate the number of available credits and uses an independent third-party expert for monitoring. 

Bioingred is a company providing natural and sustainable ingredients for the food and cosmetic industry. It has a portfolio of natural products for oils, food and dietary supplements. It is working with 750 farmers and sells ingredients to local markets in Colombia and international markets such as Australia and Italy. The business has reforestation projects to support communities and promotes direct purchasing from farmers and farmer associations to improve livelihoods. The funding requirement for their ongoing funding round stands at approximately US $3.25 million. 

Energy Transition 

Digitizing Energy optimizes household energy appliances for consumers and the grid through an automated smart energy management system. Village Energy is the commercial partner in the partnership. Through a digital platform, it connects household energy appliances to the grid and helps utilities manage the energy according to demand requirements. This allows consumers to manage their energy spend and save money, and it supports utility companies to keep up with energy demand and the transition to zero-carbon grids. The company is looking for an estimated investment of US $4 million to deploy more connections to utility customers, attract new customers and invest in new product development. 

SEOS is scaling up a financing platform to encourage the uptake of residential rooftop solar. It provides web and mobile portals and energy smart monitors designed for end users and installers. It offers financing options for solar loans for homeowners and for installers. The business is growing with a monthly increase of 9.4% in customer acquisition. Its focus is to strengthen its presence in Colombia, while also designing an entry plan to Mexico and two other countries in Latin America. It is planning to launch a priced seed investment round in Q1 2024 to raise around US $4 million in equity. In parallel, it is looking to secure senior debt facilities up to US $10 million. 

Uptime Analytics was another presenter during this session, showcasing their expertise in optimizing energy consumption and aiding in industrial decarbonization through the use of Artificial Intelligence. Over the past year, they have achieved an impressive fourfold growth in revenues and successfully completed their pre-seed stage in 2022, with EPM in Medellin as one of their prominent investors. Looking ahead, in line with their expansion plans involving both existing and prospective clients, they are gearing up to launch a new investment round in early 2024. 

Sustainable Cities 

Building Circular Food Systems uses insects to convert organic food waste into high quality animal feed and fertilizer. Chanzi is the commercial partner in the partnership. A single Chanzi facility has the capacity to process more than 25 metric tons of waste per day, offset 9.2 metric tons of carbon every day and benefit more than 2,800 smallholder farmers. In 2023, Chanzi has managed more than 3,000 metric tons of waste. It currently operates in Tanzania and Kenya with a new facility coming up in South Africa. The long-term vision is to have 47 operational facilities by 2028 for which it needs an estimated capital raise of US $17 million. This will allow Chanzi to process 2,000 metric tons of waste per day, hire 10,000 direct and indirect staff, and offset 250,000 metric tons of carbon annually. 

SUN RUN is bringing the e-mobility transformation to rural Kenya with a focus on gender inclusivity. E-Safiri and Kiri EV are the commercial partners in this partnership. Sun Run will build local capacity to maintain electric vehicles and lease the vehicles through pay-as-you-go (PayGo. The vehicles will be charged at solar powered battery charging stations with the extra power serving other businesses. Sun Run plans on increasing the number of vehicles and charging hubs. Sun Run works in collaboration with Kiri EV, which focuses on the Business to Business side of the market, last mile delivery and corporate fleets. Kiri EV assembles the e-motorcycles with revenue coming from bike sales, leases and spare parts and servicing. It is currently raising US $1.5 million in seed financing and is targeting US $5 million for its next raise. 

Digital Food Rescue Ecosystem is a digital platform that automates the food rescue process and connects the industry with food banks to reduce waste and combat hunger. EatCloud, the commercial partner, operates in Colombia and Mexico. Not only does it optimize the pick-up of surplus food from the food industry, but also through analytics optimizes the most efficient routes to pick up and deliver the food. EatCloud has a subscription-based model with two charge fees, one for the automation platform and the other for analytical data collected. It has redistributed 70 million dishes of food, mitigated 20,000 tons of carbon emissions and saved businesses US $30 million. It is currently seeking US $2 million in pre-Series A funding to consolidate and expand the business in Colombia, Mexico and Spain.

About

Cities have tremendous opportunities to lead innovation and provide funding solutions to climate challenges. But they need to enable specific levers of change that can help them meet their goals.

 Speakers at the 2023 P4G Colombia Summit panel discussion on building Sustainable and Circular Cities shared their solutions and strategies to enable circularity principles and businesses to flourish.

 Carolina Urrutia, Secretary of Environment of Bogota, Colombia kicked off the discussion by dismantling the myth that the public and private sector are at loggerheads with each other. Instead, she said, “people want to work together,” and what’s required is more honesty and realism about what needs to be accomplished. The wide-ranging session touched upon opportunities and solutions the panelists were excited about and the continued barriers to achieving circularity. 

Claudio Orrego, Governor of Santiago de Chile Metropolitan Region highlighted the immense opportunity brought about by converging policies, where policies fit several goals simultaneously instead of taking a linear and siloed approach to developing regulations. 

Cost-efficient waste collection and management systems were top of mind for Mónica Villegas, Manager, Visión 30/30 at ANDI, a private sector initiative to reduce plastic packaging in the national marketplace and achieve circular economy goals. From better collection centers for beaches to implementing programs in restaurants to collect organic waste, she described the initiative’s programs for rethinking waste management and transforming waste collection in remote regions. 

Mostafiz Uddin spoke about the exciting developments in sustainable fashion from his vantage point as the founder and CEO of Bangladesh Apparel Exchange, a denim manufacturing company and initiative to promote circular fashion in Bangladesh. He recalled how in 2017, people couldn’t even pronounce circular fashion. Fast forward 6 years later, and Bangladesh is now setting examples for sustainable garment manufacturing. He called out of the work of P4G partnership “Closing the Loop on Textile Waste” that is maximizing the amount of fabric waste recycled to like-new quality fiber in Bangladesh. 

Ever the pragmatist, Uddin also underscored that the private sector is driven by profit and that “there has to be a business case” for any solution to be championed. 

When the conversation turned to challenges, panelists shared a number of them. Lack of knowledge was one common barrier that seemed to rise across countries. Speakers shared the huge challenge of building capacity and a general need for more awareness of any new environment program. 

Orrego shared how in Santiago they request that at least 5- 10% of the budgets in environmental programs be devoted to awareness campaigns. 

“Sometimes we frame policies in a bad way,” Orrego said, as he explained that they’re not asking people to give up owning cars, but rather to change the way they use their cars. He used that example to show the importance of framing policies in a way that will change public acceptance of them. He also shared the challenge of institutional accountability and not knowing who is accountable to the public. 

Speakers also listed the challenges of existing tariff systems, the lack of enabling regulatory frameworks and financial support. 

Ani Dasgupta, President & CEO of World Resources Institute moderated the panel and reflected on the importance of interconnected approaches that look at systems change. He also spoke about the importance of helping businesses understand the environmental change that needs to happen and asked the panelists for their top recommendations for small businesses. 

The answers came fast and furious: 

• Take the time to build trust and overcome implicit biases. 

• Promote the need for social sustainability and acceptance of businesses by showing people that just transitions are linked to environmental justice and business innovation. 

And perhaps most importantly, the people-centric message from Uddin who reminded small businesses that people are their biggest asset and asked them to, “Love your people, teach your people, educate your people and believe in your people."

About

Energy sources are shifting in countries all around the world. From electric vehicles to developing green hydrogen corridors, the private sector is leading the charge on innovative solutions to meet renewable energy needs. Governments need to provide clear and consistent signals that they will support this change and that there will be a huge market for clean energy. 

Speakers in the energy transition sessions at the 2023 P4G Colombia Summit shared ambitions, solutions and successful strategies for how they were accelerating the energy transition from a policy and business perspective. 

Felipe Salgado, Partner-Director, KPMG set the context at a panel discussion on decarbonizing transport by sharing background on how the transport sector contributes to one-fifth of global carbon emissions and the majority of governments have not clear set dates for banning internal combustion engines. 

“We need to think differently,” he said to overcome the various challenges associated with decarbonizing the transport sector such as addressing the high upfront costs of electric vehicles, increasing the demand for batteries, and being able to meet this demand. 

Advocating for city-led change, Andrea Bizberg, Air Quality Expert, C40 Cities, spoke about need to diversify financing options and noted that public-private partnerships are important for commercial banks to provide finance. She spoke about the growing societal pressure for better air quality and need to focus on the climate impact on health. 

Inkeun Lee, Director General for Environment & Energy Bureau, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Republic of Korea also came from the angle of city leadership and underscored the need for infrastructure in cities instead of only subsidies for vehicles. He shared Seoul’s strategies for increasing the uptake of electric mobility that includes a focus on subsidies for public vehicles traveling longer distances, spending on fast charges and discounted fare cards for public transport to encourage the use of buses and reduce emissions. Lee also spoke about the Republic of Korea’s investment in green hydrogen to decarbonize the sector. 

Hyoeun Jenny Kim, Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Republic of Korea shared how major Korean companies such as Hyundai Motors are aggressively investing in green hydrogen. She emphasized the role of the government in promoting this shift by providing support for research and development, and a regulatory framework to make the sector commercially viable. 

The role of governments in supporting the green corridor model was another topic of conversation in a fireside chat on renewable energy and green hydrogen. The term refers to specific routes between two ports where zero emission shipping solutions are supported and demonstrated. Policymakers can put enabling systems with targeted regulatory and financial incentives in place along these corridors. 

Ingrid Sidenvall Jegou, Project Director, The Global Maritime Forum shared how this model is gaining traction internationally with 22 governments coming together to make this a reality and 30 green corridor projects announced since 2021. Ambassador Kim mentioned that the Republic of Korea was one of the few countries with a dedicated ministry for maritime and ocean affairs and highlighted the country’s agreement with the United States of America to create a green shipping corridor. 

When it comes to the energy transition, private sector engagement is key and business leaders such as Samira Fadul, Corporate Affairs Vice President, Bavaria advocated for more robust incentive schemes. She shared their experience as a P4G partnership working on electrifying their truck fleet and how P4G helped them with financing from a Colombian bank. She spoke candidly about how without charging infrastructure, the process of electrifying trucks was futile. 

Carlos Naranjo, Founding Partner and Sustainable Relations Director, Gaia shared that for Colombia to meet its ambitious zero emissions targets there needs to be more action on finance and tax incentives. He also mentioned the collaborative effort between the private and public sector to meet these targets. 

Nguyen Thanh Cong, Deputy Head, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam spoke about Vietnam’s ambitious climate targets and its place as the third country to implement a Just Energy Transition plan after South Africa and Indonesia. He explained how the ministry set internal implementation targets to meet the country’s zero emissions goals. 

There was an overarching consensus on the need for collaboration between the public and private sector to make the energy transition a reality and the need for “out-of-the-box” innovative thinking. To achieve net zero by 2050, panelists shared that everyone also bears the responsibility to rethink and change how and what they consume.

About

Washington, D.C. (September 18, 2023) - Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2023 (P4G) is pleased to announce that Robyn McGuckin has been named the new Executive Director of the platform. In this role, McGuckin will lead P4G in its ambitious approach of supporting climate entrepreneurs to become investment ready so they can provide locally led solutions in food, water and energy systems. 

“Innovative financial mechanisms and proven approaches that drive global investment to climate enterprises in low- and middle-income countries are key to delivering on the world’s climate and development goals,” says Craig Hanson, Managing Director and Executive Vice President for Programs at World Resources Institute. “Robyn has a deep understanding of the challenges and needs of early-stage businesses in securing investment. Under her leadership, P4G will demonstrate best practices for developing financially sustainable solutions that can deliver long-term transformational impact for people, nature and climate.” 

McGuckin previously served as the Director of Partnerships at P4G where she led partnership pipeline origination, selection and acceleration. Prior to joining World Resources Institute (WRI), McGuckin held senior management positions at a global engineering and construction firm, and two international NGOs. She also worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Middle East and South Asia on energy projects and infrastructure reconstruction. She has been a consultant with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. She has lived or worked in countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. 

“I’m energized at the prospect of leading P4G through its new strategy that focuses on driving climate impact through a clear set of priorities that will improve the investability of climate businesses and the enabling market systems in our partner countries,” says McGuckin. “I look forward to working with leaders in the public and private sector to accelerate our partnerships and improve the lives of people and our planet.” 

A nature enthusiast whose family hails from the Yellowstone Park area, McGuckin has an M.S. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from the University of Georgia and a B.S. in Biosystems Engineering from Virginia Tech. McGuckin will be based in Washington, D.C. 

Follow Robyn McGuckin on LinkedIn. 

About P4G 

P4G - Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 - contributes to inclusive, net zero transitions in low- and middle-income countries by supporting climate entrepreneurs to become investment ready so that they can provide locally led solutions in food, water and energy systems. It provides grants and technical assistance to green growth partnerships, contributes to enabling systems improvements in partner countries, and shares these learnings with P4G countries and beyond. P4G accelerates partnerships in Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam. It is hosted by World Resources Institute and funded by Denmark, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea.

About

On July 17, P4G will open applications for partnerships working on climate mitigation or adaptation solutions in the areas of food, energy and water. Partnerships must comprise at least one early-stage private sector business and one non-governmental organization implementing in one of P4G’s ODA-eligible partner countries: Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam. Applicants must provide services or products  in one of the following sub-sectors: climate-smart agriculture, food loss and waste, water resilience, zero emission mobility and renewable energy.

This is an opportunity for partnerships to receive average grant funding of US $350,000 and technical assistance to help the early-stage business become investment ready. Applications need to be submitted by September 8, 2023, to be considered for funding in the 2023 round.

Register for this webinar to learn more. 

About

Transportation is the single largest source of emissions for many countries and is responsible for 24% of carbon emissions globally. For a country like Colombia with ambitious emissions reduction goals of 51% by 2030, large scale electrification is key. Its capital, Bogotá has the distinction of being the city with the largest electric bus network in the world outside China. 

P4G organized an e-mobility workshop in Bogotá, Colombia on March 29, 2023, bringing together multiple stakeholders working in this area to discuss challenges and offer recommendations for strengthening e-mobility enabling systems in the country. Robyn McGuckin, P4G’s Director of Partnerships spoke about the value of collaboration between different stakeholders – government, nongovernmental organizations and investors – to realize e-mobility solutions that have far reaching impacts on people’s lives, health and livelihoods. 

“Colombia is an important leader in climate as it can share replicable solutions at the global level,” said Fernando Paez, World Resources Institute Deputy Director, Colombia, as he kicked off the workshop. 

Paez shared WRI’s work in supporting Colombian cities to structure ambitious and achievable electrification plans, a priority for the country since the transportation sector in Colombia generates about 12.5% of the country’s total emissions. He also called out the challenge and opportunity of innovative financial tools and mechanisms to attract the investment needed to strengthen e-mobility systems. 

E-Mobility Challenges

Panelists weighed in with specific challenges to keeping the momentum for e-mobility going, which ranged from technological issues to behavioral ones. Angela Sarmiento, Head of the Regulatory and Business Affairs Office at Ministry of Mines and Energy in Colombia underscored the importance of having plentiful and accessible charging stations. Orlando Santiago, General Manager at Transmilenio, spoke about the challenges of convincing the market to implement an unproven technology. 

Deyanira Ávila, Mobility Secretary of Bogotá echoed the challenge of resistance to change and spoke about the need for making the transition in a systematic manner that encompasses e-mobility across all vehicles including cars, fleets and micro-mobility, the latter being especially important for its functionality since not everybody can ride a bike. Nicolás Rincón, Director of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy at the Department of National Planning of Colombia spoke about the need to recuperate demand after the pandemic. 

On the topic of micro-mobility, Diana Gómez, CEO of Lola, which is the business partner in P4G partnership Green Last Mile, emphasized the need for businesses and cities to understand what works best for the logistics they need. This is a partnership testing the optimization of last mile distribution with electric bicycles and micro hubs. She said there’s great private sector interest in implementing micro-mobility solutions, but a specific challenge lies in electric three-wheelers not being certified as a transport service provider. 

E-Mobility Lessons Learned

Juliana Bejarano, Manager for Bogotá - Cundinamarca – Boyacá at ANDI, agreed with Gómez’s observation on private sector interest and said that companies were growing more sustainable and open to working on the transition. She spoke about the need to continue working with P4G and others like it to connect new businesses and entrepreneurs with big companies. 

“We want a comprehensive ecosystem and principally, a complete network to close the batteries cycle and enhance this transition,” said Ávila.

This theme of institutional level change and building a specialized bureau to guide all aspects of sustainable mobility was brought up by multiple panelists. They called out the roles that national and local government coordination and enabling policy framework have played in allowing Colombia to reach its significant sustainable transportation achievements. The enabling framework was also brought up by Martijn Groen, a diplomat at the Netherlands Embassy in Bogotá who mentioned the landmark EU law that requires all new cars sold from 2035 to have zero emissions. 

Recommendations to Speed Up the Transition

There were quite a few policy and regulatory recommendations that came out in the two panel discussions moderated by Paez and Pablo Martinez, Country Representative at the Global Green Growth Institute. These included: 

1. Improving the approval process for certifying different types of electric vehicles, especially for articulated or accordion buses; 

2. Limiting or eliminating restrictions for national government funding for local e-buses; and 

3. Improving incentives for public access to charging stations. 

Juliana Lugo, Sustainability Lead at Bavaria, the business partner in P4G partnership Sustainable Mobility in Cargo Transportation spoke about applying a series of learnings from the partnership to improve Bavaria’s business plan. The leading beverage company in Colombia, Bavaria has a goal of buying 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025 and reducing emissions by 25% throughout its fleets by 2030. With a grant and technical assistance from P4G, the partnership deployed 22 electric cargo trucks, 12 4-ton capacity vehicles, and 10 12-ton capacity trucks and proved a business case for empowering other companies to incorporate electric cargo trucks into their fleet. 

“One of Bavaria’s principles is that we dream big," said Lugo. 

The e-mobility workshop showed that she’s joined by many other big dreamers in Colombia actively working to make those visions a sustainable reality.