Public sector investors significantly increase their investments.
In December 2013 three investors committed an additional USD 92.6 million of new investments to the Global Climate Partnership Fund (“GCPF, “Fund”).
GCPF is a public-private partnership dedicated to mitigating climate change through a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in emerging and developing markets. It focuses on financing energy efficiency and renewable energy projects primarily in cooperation with local financial institutions, thereby creating a positive impact on the local environment and economy.
The largest share came from the Government of the United Kingdom, represented by its Department for Energy and Climate Change (“DECC”). It invested GBP 30 million (ca. USD 49 million) into GCPF’s C-Shares. These are the Fund’s first loss buffer and are therefore a crucial risk cushion for commercial investors and ensure GCPF’s future growth.
Another investment into C-Shares came from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (“BMUB”). Through its International Climate Initiative, BMUB increased its existing investment by USD 13.6 million to reach a total of USD 55.5 million. In sum, GCPF therefore now has C-Share investments totaling over USD 112 million – enough to allow the Fund to grow to its intermediate growth target of USD 500 million.
An additional investment came from Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank OeEB ( the Development Bank of Austria) which invested a total of USD 30 million into the Fund’s mezzanine and senior tranches. This brings GCPF to a total of around USD 326 million of committed investments.
Monika Beck, Chairperson of GCPF’s Board of Directors said: “The Fund is now in an excellent position to scale up its investment activities and to position itself as an attractive investment for additional investors from the private sector, such as ÄrzteVersorgung Westfalen-Lippe which invested USD 30 million in 2012.”
Karsten Sach, Deputy Director-General, International and European Cooperation of BMUB said: “The increase of our investment is recognizing the Fund’s success in abating greenhouse gas emissions. GCPF is an excellent example of mobilising private capital for climate actions. Boosting private investments into low carbon development is needed to tackle climate change. Public Finance can catalyze private investments as done through the GCPF.”
Andrea Hagmann and Michael Wancata, Members of the Executive Board of OeEB said: “While OeEB was supporting GCPF from its start through a donation to its technical assistance facility, we now decided to become an investor in order to increase Austria’s commitment to combating climate change globally. GCPF’s capability to fund financial institutions as well as direct projects, and its attractive risk-layered investment structure perfectly fit our mission.”
