New York, September 24, 2024
Global institutional investors, representing over $50 trillion in assets as universal owners, have committed to supporting Africa’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by assisting governments in transforming them into investable, bankable projects.
At the African NDC Institutional Investment Summit, held during New York Climate Week alongside the UN General Assembly, institutional investors, governments, and philanthropies explored Africa’s $3-7 trillion NDC opportunities. The goal is to position the continent as an investable global green technologies manufacturing hub and a central player in the $10 trillion per annum green industrial economy and value chains.
The Summit, hosted by The Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI)and Africa investor (Ai), was themed: “Aligning Private Capital Mobilization at Scale with Africa’s NDCs, the Nairobi Declaration, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
At the 37th African Union Heads of State Summit, African leaders stressed the urgent need to mobilize private capital to finance Africa’s $3 trillion NDC climate and sustainable development projects by 2030. With multilateral concessional loans addressing only 10% of the continent’s private financing gap, the Summit reinforced the critical role of institutional investors in realizing Africa’s green transition and advancing the goals of the Nairobi Declaration through scaled private capital mobilization to green risk-adjusted portfolios.
In response, the SMI Africa Council (SMIAC), in collaboration with Africa investor (Ai), launched the Investable Asset Classes Working Group initiative, to establish African green industrial infrastructure as a globally competitive investable asset class. This initiative brings together the world’s largest institutional investors, philanthropies, investment consultants, and corporate demand coalitions to attract domestic and global private capital at scale, co-create bankable NDC investment programs, and unlock the full potential of African natural capital on government balance sheets.
The African NDC Institutional Investment Summit showcased strategies for private capital mobilization through Institutional Investor-Public Partnerships (IIPPs) and innovative blended investments designed to decarbonize industries and build Africa’s green industrial base. Investors and leaders agreed that Africa is uniquely positioned, through IIPPs, to capitalize on the growing global green industrial economy, given its vast renewable energy resources and commitment to sustainable development.
Summit Partners included the CFA New York Asset Owners Council, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA) Continental Business Network, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the NDC Partnership, and the African Green Infrastructure Investment Bank (AfGIIB).
Key Summit Outcomes focused on:
• Establishing African green industrial infrastructure and natural capital as a globally competitive investable asset class.
• Co-creating bankable NDC investment programs and risk-adjusted portfolios aligned with the Nairobi Declaration.
• Promoting data democratization to transform the MDB’s GEMs2.0 risk database into GEMs3.0 as an asset allocation at-scale platform.
• Aligning and mobilizing philanthropic, private, and public capital at scale and speed through IIPPs and innovative blended investments.
• Expanding Africa’s participation in the $10 trillion per annum global green industrial economy through long-duration bankable offtakes, offering sustainable and climate-adjusted returns for investors.
Speaking on the Summit, Dr Hubert Danso, Chair, Africa investor and Co-Chair SMI Africa Council, explained, “This historic African NDC’s Institutional Investment Summit of the world largest universal owners, the African Union, African governments, philanthropies, and the private sector, squarely responds to African Union Heads of State call for institutional investor-public partnerships through the continents revised NDCs, to accelerate Africa’s just energy transformation and decarbonize the world at industrial for the benefit of people, planet and nature”.
The Summit reaffirmed that Institutional Investor-Public Partnerships (IIPPs) and long-duration bankable offtake agreements are the investable pathway for global investors and philanthropies to support Africa’s just energy transformation and establish African green industrial infrastructure as a globally competitive investable asset class through its NDCs. These partnerships support the African Union’s ambitions, as outlined in the Nairobi Declaration, to position Africa as a world leader in green technologies manufacturing and value chains for the $10 trillion per annum and growing global green industrial economy.
