The Global Climate Partnership Fund (GCPF) has just published its Annual Report 2016 which can be found here. Antoine Prédour, Head of Energy Debt Financing at the GCPF’s investment manager responsAbility Investments, talks about the highlights of the year.
Antoine, what were the most important achievements for GCPF in 2016?
2016 was a very exciting year for us, and it’s difficult to choose just a few highlights. Overall, however, I would mention the following achievements:
- CO2 reductions doubled: Total expected lifetime CO2 reductions for all projects financed by the Fund since inception reached 8.6 m tonnes in 2016, a 98 % increase over 2015 (4.3 m tonnes).
- 17% increase in invested volume and greater outreach: 3 new partner institutions in 3 new countries were added to the fund
- Increase in funding commitments: the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) increased their exposure by USD 25m C-Shares and ASN bank invested USD 25m in Green Notes
Which element of the GCPF team’s work are you particularly proud of?
Again, lots of things come into my mind. There is one clear highlight, however: In September 2016, the GCPF hosted the first GCPF Academy at the investment manager’s head office in Zurich. Representatives of 19 banks flew in from 13 countries for a week of knowledge exchange and networking, meeting not only peers but also investors and board members of the GCPF for a much valued exchange on advancing green lending
What will be the biggest challenges over the coming months?
To keep up the strong momentum we have created, we need to win new private investors to sustain the growth of GCPF while at the same time convincing additional financial institutions partners of the importance of developing a strong green lending platform, to be developed in cooperation with the GCPF.
