Clean Energy Policy News
15 December 2016
Adnan Z. Amin, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency met today with H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, in Cairo. They discussed opportunities for accelerated renewable energy deployment in Egypt as well as cooperation between Egypt and IRENA.
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15 December 2016
Just months after Victoria’s state Labor government became the first government in Australia to issue its own green bonds, Victoria’s Monash University has become the first university in the world to issue a certified climate bond, raising more than $218 million to fund sustainable development in the tertiary education sector. The green bond, which was issued in the U.S. private placement market, was certified by the Climate Bond Initiative and has a Green Bond accreditation from Moody’s Investor Services. It is structured to provide the market with investment options in US and Australian dollars over 15 years, 17.5 years or 20 years.
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14 December 2016
Renewable power has seen a dramatic expansion in recent years thanks to sharply falling costs. But, this growth has raised a new challenge for power-system operators and regulators, as wind and solar PV have sometimes been deployed before the power system was ready to handle such variable supplies. A new IEA publication, Next Generation Wind and Solar: From Cost to Value, describes the root of this challenge and highlights possible solutions.
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12 December 2016
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and a group of high-profile executives are investing $1 billion in a fund to spur clean energy technology and address global climate change a year after the Paris climate agreement. The fund seeks to increase financing of emerging energy research and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to help meet goals set in Paris, according to a statement by the investor group known as the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.
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25 November 2016
Three Loan Agreements to support Ghana's renewable energy agenda and strengthen the financial management capacities of the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Ghana Audit Service have been signed in Accra. The agreements, involving a total amount of 40.82 million euros (approx.176 million GH¢, 43.51 USD), are the Ghana Audit Service Infrastructure Project costing 13 million euros (approx. GH¢ 56 million, 13.86 ,million USD), the Ghana Revenue Authority Information Technology Training Institute project costing 5 million euros (GH¢ 21.5 million, 5.33 million USD), and a Renewable Energy Programme—Photo Voltaic Project—at the cost of 22.82 million euros (approx. GH¢ 98 million, 24.32 million USD ). The German government, through Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), Germany's leading development bank, is funding the three projects.
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25 November 2016
At the recent COP 22 in Morocco, USAID announced $4 million funding to eight companies that are revolutionizing household solar power across Africa through the Scaling Off-Grid Energy: Grand Challenge for Development scheme. The funding is significant because it concerns a risky fragment of Africa’s solar energy. USAID added that the platform provides seed funding to solar start-ups to support geographic expansion throughout Africa, test new business models and tap into private and public financing, and that the new $4 million fund is expected to create up to 120,000 additional connections in off-grid communities.
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23 November 2016
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) have teamed up to mobilize up to EUR 834 million (USD 892.86 million) in financing for the development of private renewable energy projects in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Financing will be accompanied by targeted technical cooperation support for the implementation of renewable energy projects in the region that aim to avoid 780,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
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22 November 2016
Bringing together European banks and UN funding, the new Sustainable Finance Collective Asia will offer capital and expert advice for sustainability projects.
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22 November 2016
The European Investment Bank has confirmed plans to strengthen support for the Green for Growth Fund to enable new investment in small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy projects across North Africa, in Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as in Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories. Expanded geographic engagement of the specialist climate fund to the southern Mediterranean region will focus investment on projects that can generate high energy savings and significant carbon dioxide reduction in countries that have high levels of fossil fuel use, limited renewable energy and restricted implementation of energy efficiency schemes.
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21 November 2016
Recognizing the importance of reducing carbon emission in the transportation sector, eight nations signed a Government Fleet Declaration on November 16, pledging to increase the share of electric vehicles in their government fleets and calling for other governments to join them. The declaration was announced at the Marrakech Climate Change Conference (COP22) and was developed under the aegis of the Clean Energy Ministerial’s Electric Vehicles Initiative.
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