The Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) for Colombia is an international initiative funded by the UK-Pact of the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), whose objective is to promote the design of blended finance projects that are in line with Colombia’s climate agenda.
In order to achieve financial closure of climate projects in the world, there is a need to resort to innovative forms of financing. This is how agreements are created that combine different types of financial resources (blended finance) that help investors overcome the limitations imposed by the risk inherent to the projects.
Under this scenario, the first version of the AFC was launched in London in 2017. For one week, representatives from the governments of Colombia, Mexico and Nigeria worked together with banks and financial experts to develop an initial financing plan and proposals for priority NDC projects.
Now, this initiative is moving forward with a process designed specifically for Colombia’s climate change needs and commitments. The second version of the CFA is being led by a consortium of climate finance specialists including The Climate Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers UK (PwC UK), E3- Ecology, Economics and Ethics, Ian Callaghan Associates and Ricardo (Energy and Environment), along with the support of financial institutions BnP Paribas, Bancolombia, Bancoldex, Banco Agrario and the Inter-American Development Bank.
The project has a duration of 6 months, which included a call for proposals and a kick-off workshop with the various project proponents in the energy, transportation, and agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sectors.
The call gathered about 60 projects of which 10 were selected to receive advice on their financial structuring. The last part of this Accelerator will be a specialized 3-day workshop in March 2020 where proponents will meet with impact investors, banks and specialists to forge innovation and achieve financial possibilities.
From the Accelerator we intend to show the way to reach mechanisms that achieve that both proponents of climate projects and financiers come together in order to achieve innovative financing, mixing the available resources both public and private and donation, making financial closures that accelerate the implementation of projects that contribute to meet the goals of the Paris agreement.
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